SATOYAMA: Simulating and Teaching Game Optimal for Young Children to Learn Vegetation Succession as Management of an Actual Forest

Abstract

Global environmental problems have worsened in the recent years. Children need to cope with this situation by learning about global environmental issues in a realistic manner. For children to understand more about global environmental issues, it is important for them to learn from textbooks and teachers and also actually experience these learned things. However, phenomena occurring in a large time scale are difficult to experience in reality. One of them is vegetation succession. Vegetation succession occurs in a large time scale. Hence, it is difficult for children to experience changes in vegetation even if they do field work. In this study, the authors try to solve the abovementioned problem by developing a game that can support children's learning of the vegetation succession in Japan. Children can simulate the management of SATOYAMA when they play this game. SATOYAMA is a forest which has been used by humans, between nature and a village. When a player selects an action within a predetermined time, a change caused by the action occurs in SATOYAMA. The status of the managed SATOYAMA compared with the ideal SATOYAMA state is scored at the end of the game. By doing so, children can intuitively understand the state of the SATOYAMA they managed. The results obtained from 38 children, who participated in this experiment, suggested that this game would make children interested in vegetation succession and encourage learning.