Designing with Feeling: How Students Constructed Embodied Participatory Simulations for Groups of Younger Learners to Understand and Care About Sustainability in Ecosystems

Abstract

Technological supports for collective, embodied ideation that were only dimly envisioned by 20th century futurists are now solid fact. For instance, advances in location tracking, mixed reality, and agent-based modeling have converged, enabling groups to collectively construct and animate shared, dynamic representations in real time. Pre-existing genres of activity may support activity design here, including participatory simulations; interactive theater; embodied play; or games. However, if we want emerging tools for collective ideation to be expressive for all groups, we need to attend carefully to how participants themselves conceptualize their potential. This paper describes a project that engaged high-school students in designing embodied participatory activities for groups of younger students, about a topic they selected as important: sustainability in social-ecological systems. Students' design work was diverse and generative. We focus here on one emergent theme: design decisions that aimed to evoke particular feelings in participants, to foster learning and reflection on actions.