The effectiveness of a flood protection computer game for disaster education

Abstract

Background: Taiwan experiences typhoons annually and the heavy rain accompanies a typhoon often causes flooding and damage. Local decision-makers invest heavily in flood-prevention measures thus need to allocate resources wisely to minimize the destruction. As floods periodically cause tremendous damage to lives and property, passing on the learning of previous generations becomes important. Disaster education is therefore critical in the region. However, the current disaster education curriculum follows a traditional education methodology focusing on theoretical and conceptual knowledge and teaching. An alternative methodology is needed to motivate students and to deliver practical experience in disaster education. Method: This study adopted a persuasive technology game-initiated-learning (GIL) and developed a Flood Protection game to understanding the following: (1) students’ motivation for learning, (2) their ability to play the game, and (3) their focus on disaster topics. To evaluate their levels of motivation, students’ reactions were analyzed and categorized into four specific expressions: discussion, question, laughter, and screaming. Students’ game playing ability was analyzed and categorized into four stages: explore, aware, fluent, and known. Finally, the content of students’ discussions and questions were analyzed to assess their interest in disaster education. Results: Students’ levels of motivation were found to be high (an average of 2.3 instances of discussion, 0.7 instances of question, 1.3 instances of laughter, and 0.8 instances of screaming were observed per minute during the game); their ability to play the game was sufficient (79% of students completed the game having reached the “known” stage); and the content of their discussions and questions was closely related to disaster knowledge (73% of the 256 discussions and questions related closely to flood and disaster knowledge). Conclusions: From this research, we find that GIL is a persuasive design in flood protection training. Students with low motivation in conventional learning environments were triggered after playing the game. It enhanced students’ motivation to learn more about flooding. In short, the game does benefit flood disaster education, indicating that a well-designed game may promote students’ motivation in disaster education and cause behavior change.