MASTER THESIS WITHIN TECHNOLOGY AND TEACHING ADVANCED LEVEL, 30 HP
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 2020
The Development of a Learning Package
From University to Upper Secondary School
Adaptation and the Implementation of a Banking role EDVIN CARLSON
KRISTER PEHRSSON
The Development of a Learning Package
From University to Upper Secondary School
Adaptation and the Implementation of a Banking role EDVIN CARLSON
KRISTER PEHRSSON
MASTER THESIS WITHIN TECHNOLOGY AND TEACHING ON MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING AND IN EDUCATION Title: The Development of a Learning Package.
Supervisor: Helena Lennholm, The Royal Institute of Technology KTH.
Supervisor: Jon-Erik Dahlin, The Royal Institute of Technology KTH.
Client: Snowflake Education.
Examiner: Susanne Engström, The Royal Institute of Technology KTH.
Abstract
In order for society to achieve its goal of a sustainable future, it is important that the school system implements education for sustainable development (ESD). In this report, a sustainable development (SD) learning package from Snowflake Education, consisting of a system thinking module (STM) and the game FishBanks, an ESD role- play game developed by Dennis Meadows, was further developed in two separate directions. One part was to develop a prototype, based on the STM, applicable for the Upper secondary school (USS) and the other part was about incorporating an economical aspect into FishBanks.
In order to achieve this, the study conducted a product development of the prototype for the USS and a bank role in FishBanks. The test subjects in this study was from a conducted game seminar at an USS with 52 students and two interviews with the client (USS) and the outsourcer (Snowflake Education). The results were then analysed using a thematic approach. The economical aspects in FishBanks were tested through a product development method, which included the authors’ own testing, two independent test subjects as well as a testing session with the CEO of Snowflake Education.
The main findings in the first part of the study showed that a for the STM to be applicable for the USS, the structure had to change, the content had to be reduced and it should include more positive emotional elements. The students at the USS experienced the level of difficulty in the developed prototype to be moderate to rather difficult. Moreover, most of the students understood the concept of complex systems to a greater or lesser extent. There were further findings that supported existing theories within ESD, which suggest that students seem to focus on the individual’s behavior.
The interview with the teacher within the USS displayed issues concerning the ESD competence among the faculty and management at the USS, which was confirmed by theory within ESD. In the second part, the economical perspective was broadened through the implementation of a bank role in FishBanks.
In the first part, the study concluded that the STM is applicable to an USS in the
subjects of Social- and Natural Science, but the structure had to change due to the
format being unsuitable to the USS. Furthermore, the content in the STM was
considered too heavy and lacking emotional content for the USS. In the second part,
the bank role of FishBanks showed potential within ESD. The overall results of the
study were promising, but the recommendation was that both parts should undergo
further revisions, before being applied.
Preface
With this master thesis the authors are about to end a five-year long journey at The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). First and foremost, we would like to thank our better halves, Sophie and Linnea for putting up with us. It has been a struggle, but soon this challenging period will come to an end.
We would also like to thank our supervisors Helena Lennholm & Jon-Erik Dahlin for valuable input and also our examiner Susanne Engström for taking the time to read a study of 100+ pages.
To Julia and Furkan: you are the best!
Now that this part of our lives will soon be over, we can continue to struggle in our work lives instead. Life must go on, as a young genius kid once said:
”Varför går man på dagis och skolan och skolan och universitetet och högstadiet
och jobbar hela livet. Man får ju aldrig ens vara ifred någon gång” - Tove 6 år
1. Introduction 10
1.1 Background 11
1.2 Purpose and aim of the study 12
1.2 Sampling 12
1.5 Area of responsibility 13
2. Sustainable Development 14
2.1 System thinking: An important skill in Sustainable Development 15
2.2 Education for Sustainable Development 16
2.3 Social science 19
2.4 Natural science 20
3. Educational theories 21
3.1 Sociocultural learning by Vygotsky 21
3.2 Constructivism by Piaget 21
3.3 Three dimensions of learning by Knud Illeris 22
3.4 Playing a game in education - Active Learning 23
3.5 The Flipped Classroom method 24
4. The system thinking module by Snowflake Education 26
4.1 Intended Learning outcomes 26
4.2 The preparation assignment 27
4.3 The game seminar 29
4.4 The follow up assignment 34
5. Economic theories 35
5.1 The creation of money 35
5.2 Banking business models 36
5.3 Banks and Sustainable Development 37
6. Method 39
6.1 Flowchart 39
6.2 Overall analysis method 41
6.3 Description of the parts in the design process 42
6.4 Ethical consideration 45
7. Part 1: The USS Prototype 46
7.1 Requirements 46
7.3 Design 55
7.4 Test 63
8. Part 2: The bank role 69
8.1 The initial stage 69
8.2 The revised stage 74
8.3 The final stage 78
9 Discussion 81
9.1 Part 1: The USS prototype 81
9.2 Part 2: The bank role 85
9.3 Method discussion and limitations 87
10. Conclusions 89
10.1 First objective 89
10.2 Second objective 89
11. Further development 90
References 91
Appendix 97
Appendix A 97
Appendix B 98
Appendix C 99
Table and figure list
Figure 1: Maslow's hierarchy of needs 14
Figure 2: Sustainable development model 14
Figure 3: Sustainable development hierarchy model 15
Figure 4: Three dimensions of learning 23
Figure 5: Regrowth of the fish population 28
Figure 6: Results from the previous year 30
Figure 7: Decisions form 30
Figure 8: Playing board for FishBanks 31
Figure 9: The introduction PPT slides in the Game seminar 32 Figure 10: The debriefing PPT slides in the Game seminar 33 Figure 11. Flowchart of the methodological approach. 39
Figure 12. Original Method of product development 40
Figure 13: A compression of the ILO in the STM 51
Figure 14: ILO of the STM compared to Curriculum of Social Science 52 Figure 15: ILO of the STM compared to Curriculum of Natural Science 52
Table 1: The revised ILO 56
Figure 16: Team assignment two 57
Figure 17: Team assignment one 58
Figure 18: The revised introduction PPT slides 59
Figure 19: The revised debriefing PPT slides 61
Figure 20: Student Evaluation Questionnaire 62
Table 2: What is described in the graph? 64
Table 3: When is the regrowth at the fastest rate? 64
Table 4: Mention a real-life tragedy of the commons 65
Figure 21: The level of difficulty 66
Figure 22: Why do you think system thinking is a part of SD? 67 Figure 23: Things I learned and want to learn more about 68
Table 5: Initial requirements 69
Table 6: Initial Intended Learning Outcomes 70
Figure 24: the initial model year 1 73 Figure 25: the initial model year 2 73
Figure 26: the revised model year 1 75
Table 7: Intended Learning Outcome Evaluation 77
Figure 27: the final model 79
Abbreviations
ESD Education for Sustainable Development
ILO Intended Learning Outcomes
SD Sustainable Development
SE Snowflake Education
STM System Thinking Module
USS Upper Secondary School
1. Introduction
In today's society with all of its difficulties, one recurring topic is the challenges with sustainable development (SD). As stated by the (United Nations [UN], 2011), the need for SD is clear, but the ways to approach it may differ and will evolve over time.
The UN has stated the 17 Sustainable Developments goals that is a unified attempt to strive towards sustainability. These goals can be seen as a blueprint to reach a sustainable future, and they address several different challenges the world needs to correct, in order to get there. The challenges include poverty, climate change, education, economy and other areas that are pointed out as key parameters in order to reach SD. All these different areas are interconnected, thus equally important (UN, n.d.).
One of these 17 goals is directed towards sustainable economic growth, as roughly half of the world's population has the equivalent of about US$ 2 per day to get by.
Moreover, this goal defines how sustainable economic growth will require companies to create the conditions for people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy without harming the environment (UN, n.d.).
When it comes to the development towards a sustainable society, many put their faith in the next generation. UNESCO (2019) describes the importance of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as a key enabler for SD, which is furthermore acknowledged by the World Future Council as they state: “Education for Sustainable Development: the best investment the world can make” (World Future Council [WFC], 2019).
This demands an education that enables the next generation to solve problems in a different and more sustainable way, than what has been done historically. In practice, this means that the current generation has to educate the next generation in a way that was not taught to them. This puts the entire educational system in a difficult situation, as the main purpose of the educational system is to educate future generations so that it keeps the wheels of society rolling in the same way as earlier.
Bourdieu (2004, p.83) states: “... one of the most important tasks of the state, mainly through school, is to produce and enforce the thought categories we spontaneously apply to our world and on the state itself”. This statement shows the importance of incorporating the concept of SD in school early on and with the same definition all over the faculty, as this should influence students in every aspect and decision they make throughout their life.
However, the implementation of ESD has proven challenging, as SD, due to its
complex nature, should be integrated in all subjects, rather than treated as a separate
one. Consequently, new and creative ways to implement ESD has arisen, e.g. active
learning methods such as educational board games.
1.1 Background
Snowflake Education (SE) is a Stockholm based company whose area of expertise is to help integrate sustainable development into education. Their main customers are universities, schools and different organizations. They have developed an innovative concept for teaching sustainability, which itself is a complex and challenging subject. They have put together a combination of online tutorials and active learning board game seminars. As their methods have reached countries outside of Sweden, thousands of students have learned the concept of sustainability with SE's game-based strategy. The company believes that sustainability should be an integral part of all education and that they have found a simple and effective way to integrate a sustainability perspective into University courses (Snowflake education [SE], n.d.a).
However, a study has shown that only 28 percent of the people in Sweden have achieved a higher education, which is defined as three or more years at any University (Statistiska Centralbyrån [SCB], 2020). Thus, even though SE’s packages are used throughout different Universities, their way of teaching SD only has the chance of reaching out to a small part of the next generation. This clearly shows the need for a development of these packages, so that they can also cover the need for ESD in the Upper Secondary School (USS) and to increase the number of clients for Snowflake Education. The authors behind this report have therefore been commissioned by SE to further develop one of their learning packages surrounding the system thinking game FishBanks, as it is a mutual interest to implement it within USS education. System thinking means the skill of seeing problems in a more holistic way, understand that sustainable solutions has to consider all components in the systems.
Additionally, the authors are both about to complete a five-year education focused on energy and the environment and both felt the lack of economic education within SD.
I.e., education about how the economy works and how the financial institutions affect
the environment. Though the banks and other financial institutions do not have a
direct impact on the sustainability progress of the society, they have an indirect
impact through their lending activities and other services for non-financial activities
(Finansinspektionen [FI], 2016). The need for a broader economical understanding
in SD was furthermore concluded in a case study in Germany, where the aim was to
evaluate how well students could find solutions for real-world SD challenges
quantitatively (Barkmann, Böhm, Bögeholz, & Eggert 2016). These solutions
contained mathematical content well within the skill set of the students in the given
research, but due to the lack of deeper economic understanding, the students still
found these SD challenges to be very difficult (Barkmann et al., 2016). Thus, the
findings underline the problem experienced by the authors and the hypothesis of the
need for economic competencies to be incorporated in ESD.
Therefore, this study will investigate how a system thinking module from Snowflake Education can be developed for an USS and propose a way to broaden the economic perspective in ESD.
1.2 Purpose and aim of the study
The purpose of this study is first to adapt and develop the learning package that is surrounding the system thinking game FishBanks, to make the game more accessible to the USS. This would have a positive impact on the ESD, and it is the authors hope that they, through the conducted product development, can contribute to an acceleration of ESD.
In addition, the authors wish to implement simpler economics studies to a larger number of students through the ESD system thinking game of FishBanks. In that way, the banks and the financial markets would be included in the system of FishBanks, so that the students could learn more about its impact on SD.
Study objectives
The purpose of this study led to the following objectives, which the authors intends to investigate in the study.
I.e., with this study, the authors intend to...
Develop a prototype, based on Snowflake Education’s System Thinking Module, that is applicable for the Upper Secondary School
Broadening the economic perspective in FishBanks - a roleplay game within education for sustainable development, through the development of a bank role.
1.2 Sampling
In order to develop a prototype for the USS, the first step taken was to narrow down the scale of the research. The development of the prototype followed three steps from the product development method by Mattson & Sorensen (2019); define the requirements, design the prototype and test the prototype. In order for the game to reach as many students as possible it was concluded that the best way of implementation should be through the common subjects in the USS. The common subjects for all students in the Swedish USS are English, History, Sports and Health, Math, Natural Science, Religion, Social Science and Swedish (Skolverket, n.d.a).
Thus, our option for integrating the STM is narrowed down into any of these subjects.
Due to the limited time frame, and the contact at an USS, that was a teacher who
could let us test at a social science class as well as the nature of the STM, we looked
at the courses of social- and natural science. With these two courses determined as
representatives for the USS, the study investigated how the STM could be adapted,
or rather implemented through the ILO and the corresponding curriculums of these courses. This investigation of Social- and Natural science was done in the purpose of defining the requirements. That is, in order to design a prototype for an USS, the ILO of the and purpose of social- and natural science were analyzed together with the ILO of the STM. This was combined with interviews with both the client (the USS) and the outsourcer (CEO of Snowflake Education).
In order to investigate the second part of the study, the implementation of the economic perspective into ESD, was narrowed down to examine how this could be integrated to the board game FishBanks through the development of a bank role, which followed the same three steps by Mattson & Sorensen (2019); Requirements, Design and Test but was iterated multiple times before presenting a final model.
1.5 Area of responsibility
The work behind this master thesis has been equally shared between the authors.
I.e., while writing, we had an ongoing discussion with each other throughout the
whole process. Moreover, the interviews and game seminars conducted in the
study was carried out by the two of us.
2. Sustainable Development
This chapter will explain the concept of SD as this is the higher purpose of the STM and thus the prototype. The concept of Sustainable Development (SD) has been mentioned and discussed in numerous reports and studies, this included, and an explanation of the concept might therefore feel unnecessary. However, it is a concept that includes many disciplines and affects the entire society as we know it and is therefore more complex than one might think. Consequently, the conception of SD differs a lot, depending on who you ask. A commonly used and widely accepted definition is the one stated back in 1987 by the Norwegian prime minister at the time, Gro Harlem Brundtland, who described SD as to “satisfy our needs in such a way that we do not jeopardize future generations opportunities to satisfy their needs”
(Brundtland, 1987).
However, Brundtland’s definition has room for development as “our needs” is a changing variable, that depends on the circumstances. That is, our needs develop and change, if they are fulfilled. This is shown in Maslow's famous “Hierarchy of needs” model (see figure 1).
Figure 1: Maslow's hierarchy of needs
This illustrates some of the challenges with SD, as the needs might differ depending on who you ask or depending on what year it is or even the geographical origin of the person you ask. Therefore, some have argued that the only sustainable way of developing our society is by seeking solutions that; 1. are economically feasible, 2.
exploit natural resources with a long term perspective (so that future generations can
continue to exploit them) and 3. do so without compromising the human rights and
social needs. This way of developing a society is often shown in models where SD is
illustrated as the sweet spot between the three elements; economy, social and
environment (see figure 2). Another commonly used model (see figure 3) is built around the same three elements, i.e., economy, social and environment, but instead of equating the three elements, they are placed in a hierarchical order. Thereby illustrating that a sustainable ecology is the basis for social sustainability, which is further the basis for economic sustainability. Hence, the argument put forward in this model is that we can't develop our society, and furthermore our economy, without resources from our environment (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan [KTH], 2019).
Figure 2: Sustainable development model Figure 3: Sustainable development hierarchy model
2.1 System thinking: An important skill in Sustainable Development
FishBanks is a game about system thinking, which in this section will be explained.
There is no general definition of what system thinking is but it could be described as a process for understanding the interrelationships between the key components of a system and the ability to think of the system as a whole rather than focusing on the components (Edward, 2018). But to understand system thinking one must first define the word “system”. One general definition used by SE is that “A system is something that is more than the sum of its parts” which is a definition that has derived from “The whole is something beside the parts”, stated by Aristoteles in his book about metaphysics (SE Scholar, 2019). As an example, a car will be something “more” than just the sum of its parts. These parts would just be random mechanical parts if they were not put together as a system, into a car.
Furthermore, a system is defined as a complex system when it acts nonlinear. This might be counter-intuitive and for big systems it leads to chaotic behavior, therefore it is almost impossible to analyse and to fully understand. However, it is the most common behavior in systems in the nature and the reason behind this are found within inherent feedback loops
1between the components.
When it comes to educating in system thinking, Eckelman, Matthew & Nasiri (2011.
p.1) states the importance of it as: “Systems analysis or thinking is not just another
1A feedback-loop is an occurrence wherein the output of a system amplifies the system (positive feedback) or inhibits the system (negative feedback).
discipline, it is a different way of seeing the world, and is perhaps the only one that enables us to understand and address the complex, global challenges that we face”.
2.2 Education for Sustainable Development
As the STM by Snowflake Education is developed in the purpose of ESD, this chapter will describe theories within ESD as well as the ESD within Universities and USS, Social- and Natural Science. These theories will later be used in the development of the prototype for the USS, both in the design process by also in the analysis of the STM.
It was stated earlier the need for education for sustainable development (ESD). But as with sustainable development (SD) itself, the need for it is clear, but the way to implement may differ and will evolve.
A study about ESD states how it is not uncommon that the education more or less has turned into moral lectures (Lundegård, Malmberg, Hasslöf, Dessen Jankell &
Urbas, 2019). They furthermore state how this is often the case when discussions about SD tend to be about our habits, i.e., what or how much we eat, how much we travel etc. The “good” behavior stands against the “bad” and engagement often tends towards checking lists of right and wrong instead of developing a political force among the students that can grow through more knowledge in areas such as ecology, economics and social structures. This summons into questions about our identities which furthermore leads to, in the worst case, students developing bad environmental conscience (Lundegård et al., 2019). Another main finding by Ojala (2010) on young people, concluded that the most important factor when talking with the younger generation on this topic is to convey hope and point out the joy of being a part of such an important social issue.
Digging deeper in the matter, Lundegård et al. (2019) uncovered how this problem translates into questions such as: should education be about motivation for the students to make the “right” and “better” choices of the already given alternatives?
Or should the focus instead be to inspire them to question the old ways, to explore and figure out new ways of doing things? Lundegård et al. argues that the latter option is more effective, as this will lead to a more constructive and hopeful way of handling things. The second option would in other words result in an educational model that strive for developing action competence
2among the students.
As sustainability is a concept of distance moral
3ESD and action competence is a complex matter, due to the involvement of humans and their complexed behaviour.
A case study by Almers (2009) found that the most significant driving force behind
2Willingness and capability to act for changes in individual lifestyle, as well as for structural changes of society, in a way that includes responsibility for present and future generations, globally (Almers, 2009).
3A concept of moral that includes the unknown other who is separated from the moral agent by distance, either in time or by geographical location (Almers, 2009).
achieving action competence was emotional reactions which could initiate the desire for change and to act. Moreover, an equally important driving force was a longing for meaningfulness and belongingness, as well as feeling comfortable in what you can contribute with.
Since the ESD is still a rather new concept in schools, the World Future Council (WFC) has released a handbook, compiling the most exemplary policies and practices to advance ESD. Their global research, case studies, interviews, field visits and literature reviews resulted in twelve clusters of key conclusions, which they describe as recommendations or lessons for any stakeholders seeking to establish or enhance ESD policy and practice (Whitby, 2019):
WFC’s twelve recommendations for ESD are as follows:
1) Political will for ESD policy and practice
2) ESD policy mandates and institutional coordination systems 3) Multi-stakeholder collaborative ESD partnerships
4) ESD curriculum revisions and integration practices 5) Advancing ESD-aligned transformative pedagogies 6) Teacher education, training and resourcing
7) Whole school approaches reinforce system-wide change 8) School certification schemes to push ambition
9) Local, culturally relevant, ‘place-based’ learning 10) Monitoring and evaluation of ESD
11) Financing quality education and ESD
12) Connecting ESD to 21st century skills, jobs and a sustainable economy (Whitby, 2019).
In recommendation 4) and 5) of their twelve recommendations, they recommend interdisciplinary implementation and active learning methods, as they help the students: “(...) develop awareness of the different dimensions of SD” through “(...) active, transformative, learner-centred, participatory focused education” (Whitby, 2019 p. 5-6).
Furthermore, in 12) they point to the importance of connecting ESD to a sustainable economy, as they describe: “(...) ESD can play an important role in the transition away from unsustainable production and consumption and towards the emerging sustainable economy models of the future” (Whitby, 2019, p. 7).
In the Universities
The education at a university level essentially is based on the knowledge that the
student has gained in the upper secondary school (USS). The level of knowledge
content is considerably higher, already at the undergraduate level. When the
education proceeds to the advanced level, the level of knowledge is further
increased. All this is regulated by law (Högskolelagen [HSL], SFS 1992:1434, §8;
§9).
When it comes to ESD, there is no general curriculum for all Universities but it is stated in the Higher Education Act that: ´All universities in Sweden shall promote sustainable development, (...) the present and future generations are assured of a healthy and good environment, economic and social welfare and justice´ (HSL, SFS 1992:1434, §5).
However, even as the universities are independent, they are bounded by this law, but can decide for themselves the learning outcomes, curriculums and how ESD is implemented. E.g. The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), has set up their own sustainable goals where they aim to increase the knowledge and commitment of all employees and students on issues related to SD. Furthermore, it is stated that SD should be integrated in all their courses (KTH, 2016).
In the Upper Secondary Schools
The Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) explains that ESD is one of the most important tasks of the school system today, stating that “Education should illuminate how the functions of society and our ways of living and working can best be adapted to create SD” (Lgy, 2011). However, this is not translated into the course objectives for all subjects and most of them do not include SD perspectives. In fact, when looking into the purpose and objectives of the various courses within the upper secondary school (USS), it is only in the subjects of social- and natural science, where SD is mentioned (Skolverket, n.d.a; Skolverket, n.d.b). Hence, it is up to the teacher to implement SD in their courses, which will differ between the teachers as they are influenced by their own subject traditions and teaching methods. Also, a study by Gustafsson, Engström & Svenson (2015) found that there were problems with the ESD, in that the definition of SD differed depending on which teacher you asked. This can lead to how the education, and thus knowledge that the students receive, about SD may differ depending on which teacher they have or which school they attend (Gustafsson et al., 2015).
Even though it seems clear how an interdisciplinary approach with methods from active learning could have a potentially better implementation of SD, fact-based tradition and lectures are still the most common teaching methods (Borg, Gericke, Höglund & Bergman, 2012). This could be explained by the fact that when 3200 teachers were asked about the barriers in ESD, the most common answers were the lack of inspiring examples and absence of necessary expertise about SD (Borg et al., 2012).
However, Borg et al. (2012) points out that the responsibility of implementing ESD is
not only up to the teachers, but it is also up to management to give them this
opportunity. Gustafsson et al. (2015) points to this conclusion and states that this
difference in the competence within the faculty must be addressed, but that there is a lack of interest in this issue within the schools’ management. In addition, a survey showed that around 80 percent of the teachers experience heavy workload and that they spend 2/3 of their time on non-teaching tasks (Lärarförbundet, 2016), which should also be kept in mind before implementing any new guidelines or information for the teachers concerning SD.
2.3 Social science
This section will describe the overall purpose and ILO of Social science. This will later be matched with the ILO of the STM in the development of the prototype. One of the purposes of social science is to give the students an opportunity to develop knowledge of different matters; such as democracy and equality, as well as an understanding of issues regarding working life, resources and sustainable development (Skolverket, n.d.a).
Furthermore, the students will be given the opportunity to develop critical thinking and the capability to handle large flows of information that is connected to society.
The information pace is under constant change and therefore the students’ ability to draw correct conclusions from different types of information from various sources has to be developed. The students should also be given the opportunity to collect and process different types of information and process this information with various kinds of tools. Moreover, they should be able to express their knowledge and perceptions orally and through writing, by using digital tools (Skolverket, n.d.a).
In summary, the intended learning outcomes (ILO) in the course explains how the teaching of the subject of social science should give the students the opportunity to develop the following:
1. Knowledge of democracy and human rights, both individual and collective rights, societal issues, social conditions, and the organization and function of different societies from local to global level from different interpretations and perspectives.
2. Knowledge of the importance of historical conditions for today's society and how different ideological, political, economic, social and environmental conditions affect and are influenced by individuals, groups and social structures.
3. Ability to analyze social issues and identify causes and consequences with the help of social science concepts, theories, models and methods.
4. Ability to search, critically review and interpret information from various sources and evaluate the relevance and credibility of the sources.
5. Ability to express their knowledge of social studies in various presentation
forms (Skolverket, n.d.a).
2.4 Natural science
This section will describe the overall purpose and ILO of Natural science. This will later be matched with the ILO of the STM in the development of the prototype. The subject of natural science is interdisciplinary in nature with a foundation in biology, physics, earth sciences and chemistry. The topic deals with health, energy and sustainable development, i.e., areas of knowledge that have emerged where science meets social science (Skolverket, n.d.b).
The purpose of natural science is that the students should develop knowledge in order to evaluate and take part in natural science related questions. Furthermore, this subject should help students to develop an understanding of how the knowledge can be used in professional life, as well as everyday life and to make personal choices and decisions (Skolverket, n.d.b).
Moreover, the education in this subject shall cover different areas, such as environment and the climate issue, the allocation of the earth resources, natural cycles, show how questions related to these can be handled from a scientific point of view, and so on. The ILO’s in the course explain how the teaching of the subject of natural science should give the students the opportunity to develop the following:
1. Ability to use knowledge of natural sciences to discuss, make statements and formulate different courses of action.
2. Knowledge of the role of science in current social issues and in relation to Sustainable Development.
3. Knowledge of the consequences of different lifestyles, both for one's own health and for public health and the environment.
4. Knowledge of the structure and function of the human body and its interaction with the environment.
5. Knowledge of how science is organized and how it can be critically examined and used for critical review.
6. Knowledge of the importance of the scientific theories for the growth of
societies and for the worldview of man (Skolverket, n.d.b).
3. Educational theories
The following chapter covers the pedagogical theory which will be used when analysing the STM for the design of the prototype. As the STM by Snowflake Education contains both active social elements (FishBanks) but also more passive elements such as home studies (preparation- and follow-up assignments). More specifically socioculturalism and constructivism respectively. Moreover, Illeris three dimensions of learning will be the basis for the pedagogical analysis conducted in the study as they provide concrete tools for analyzing the STM and designing the prototype. Furthermore, it takes both socioculturalism and constructivism in consideration which makes this theory, as the STM contains elements designed after these two, suitable for the design of the prototype. The theory of active learning, including the method of flipped classroom, will be explained and discussed, as this is the teaching approach at Snowflake Education.
3.1 Sociocultural learning by Vygotsky
The sociocultural theory advocated by Vygotsky means that the student's progress of development can be divided into three different levels. The first level being the actual level, i.e., what the student can achieve on his/her own, whereas the second level is the potential level, i.e., what the student can achieve together with a more competent person who provides support and guidance. Consequently, Vygotsky draws the conclusion that there should also be a third level (viz., what the student is unable to achieve) despite receiving both support and guidance (Vygotsky, 1999).
Furthermore, Vygotsky refers to the zone of proximal development, where the goal of the intended learning is at a level that is too high for the student to achieve on his/her own, but which the student can achieve if he/she receives the right amount of guidance and support from an instructor. This zone is thus between the previously mentioned level one and level two. Hence, it is when the educational level of the student is located in this zone that you can achieve maximum development.
According to Vygotsky, when a student gets to work on tasks that he/she can solve on his/her own, there is no new learning and thus, no development (Vygotsky, 1999).
As the prototype will be developed for USS, based on content developed for Universities, this theory will be used in order to determine how well the level of the content is when evaluating the prototype and in the design of team- assignments in the prototype.
3.2 Constructivism by Piaget
The theory behind constructivism started with Jean Piaget (2008), a psychologist with
a biologist background who did multiple clinical studies on children in the twentieth
century. Piaget describes the existing knowledge in a human brain as schemas which
can be referred to as a cognitive framework that helps our brain organize and interpret information. According to Piaget, when we as humans learn something new, we either add this to our existing schemas, which he refers to as assimilation or we have to rearrange our schemas, which is the most energy demanding of these two and referred to as accommodation. In this way, humans learn by internally constructing their own understanding, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. The motivation for assimilating new things, are described with the term equilibrium. Humans experience an unbalance when they do not understand a new concept, i.e., they might have to accommodate first to later be able to assimilate this new concept. The strive for balance between these two, is the way Piaget describes our motivation for learning, as humans will always strive for equilibrium (Piaget, 2008). As the preparation assignment and follow-up assignment in the STM are meant to be carried out by the students alone, this theory applies when analysing and understanding the STM.
3.3 Three dimensions of learning by Knud Illeris
Illeris has another way of explaining the learning process, as he believes that all learning occurs within three dimensions. The first dimension, the dimension of content, contains the cognitive abilities such as knowledge and understanding, as well as practical skills such as walking, riding a bike, etc. It is through this dimension that the instincts, understanding and the capacity for learning develops, as we try to make sense of our environment and train our abilities for survival and overcoming challenges. Illeris points out that this has been the most interesting dimension in traditional educational research, but states that the two other dimensions are equally important in learning and therefore highlights the importance of having three dimensions of learning (Illeris, 2007).
The second dimension, the dimension of driving force, finds the fuel behind learning such as motivation, emotions and the will of humans. As learning new things takes energy, that energy must come from somewhere, which is Illeris explanatory reason behind this dimension. When we experience imbalance such as insecurity, curiosity or unsatisfied needs we will strive to seek new knowledge or gain new abilities to reset that balance. This process will develop our sensitivity for our environment as well as ourselves. The first two dimensions will always work together and affect each other, as what you learn always will be tinged with emotions connected to it. E.g. you can learn new things by lust (positive emotions such as motivation) or by force and necessity (negative emotions such as irritation). Moreover, new skills or knowledge might give you more motivation. In other words, the content can also affect your emotions (Illeris, 2007).
The third and last dimension, the interplay dimension, contains the individual’s
interplay with other individuals and society. Being able to integrate in society and
different social contexts means humans must communicate, cooperate and have
social skills such as interplay with our surroundings. Illeris means that this dimension
in itself does not explain how we learn but rather affects what we learn and our view of knowledge. In other words, the content and driving force dimensions are where we acquire knowledge as individuals and society, whereas the interplay dimension characterizes our learning (see figure 4) (Illeris, 2007).
Figure 4: Three dimensions of learning
By using a model (see figure 4) Illeris demonstrates how the three dimensions of learning is further embedded in society because learning always takes place in an outer social context (Illeris, 2007).
In a critique of constructivism, Illeris points out a situation that can occur in the learning process, i.e., when someone gets exposed to something new that they can´t understand. Illeris here explains how the constructivist would say that this is the situation when assimilation can´t occur, and thus accommodation will take its place, to achieve equilibrium according to Piaget. Illeris, on the other hand means there is a third option, which is rejecting or distorting the new information so that it can be assimilated into existing schemas. This option is something students tend to do in these situations as this saves energy by avoiding accommodation (Illeris, 2007).
3.4 Playing a game in education - Active Learning
This chapter will explain the concept of active learning which will be used to understand the motivation for using FishBanks in education and what aspects that might are important in designing the prototype.
In order to apply the theory of socioculturalism and the three dimensions of learning,
one must adapt the teaching methods and put the learning of the student in an
environment that supports their learning. This is exactly what active learning does,
as it focuses on how students learn and not just on what they learn. In this format,
students are encouraged to engage and discuss with each other, rather than
passively receiving information from the teacher (Ballen, Cotner, Henning & Molina,
2019). This is the case of the STM as the students, by playing a game, are constantly active in their learning process.
There are numerous examples of active learning, as there are numerous ways of engaging students besides playing games. Some commonly used examples are discussions or quizzes. In a research study on a class with nursing students by Marcee C. Everly (2011), these methods (discussions, quizzes and assignments) were implemented for half the class, while the other received traditional education, in order to test the effect of the methods. The study showed that there was a better performance among the students who received more active methods in a test, than those who received traditional education. Since the content was the same and that it was only the teaching methods that differed, this study showed the liability of the active learning method.
Studies about active learning show how the use of games in education can be effective learning methods (Dahlin, Fenner & Heather, 2015; Dahlin, Franzén &
Trulsson, 2016). The conclusion of these different studies was that in the use of games in education at both KTH, and Cambridge University, the authors observed numerous skills develop among the students. Such as know-how, awareness, understanding, exploring attitudes and values, system thinking, informational processing, improved decision making, collaborative working and communication skills (Dahlin, Fenner & Heather, 2015). Furthermore, another study at KTH, showed how students often engage with emotions, when playing educational board games about climate change. Consequently, the study recommended that any education in the subject should take the emotions into account (Dahlin, Franzén & Trulsson, 2016).
3.5 The Flipped Classroom method
The flipped classroom method, used by SE, is a method where the normal classroom lectures are replaced with active student involvement in experiential learning activities. This chapter will describe some studies on the subject and will be used when considering the structure of the prototype.
The core course content is taught using digital tools and video lectures, sometimes in addition to readings before the student arrives in class (Foster & Stagl, 2018). In a study conducted by Patanwala, Erstad, & Murphy (2016) at a University level, the flipped classroom method was applied by giving the students videos to watch before class. The results showed that the students viewing time of the videos decreased over time, resulting in more and more unprepared students. On the other hand however, the preparation improved if they were simultaneously doing a quiz in class (Patanwala et al., 2016).
Contrarily, the main result of another study by Foster & Stagl (2018) where the
“flipped classroom” method was applied in ESD for economic students showed that
the students acquired new knowledge, understood and identified the most important elements in the courses and expanded their competencies. Furthermore, the students were pleased with the arrangements of flipped classroom as they believed that they improved their individual performance. However, an interesting discovery was that even though the students were happy with the format and believed they got better results because of it, they advised against expanding it. The researchers behind the study believed this could be explained by a heavy workload compared to the workload of normally structured courses (Foster & Stagl, 2018).
Thus, as summarized by Mike Eaton in the Clinical Teacher Journal (Eaton, 2017):
“the flipped classroom method has received mixed results when tested by
researchers and the method seems to require further evidence, in order to
scientifically confirm its effectiveness.”
4. The system thinking module by Snowflake Education
This chapter will describe the STM that this study will base the development of the prototype on. I.e., this content will be analysed in the report later in order to know what to use or disregard in the prototype.
The STM contains three parts; The preparation assignments, the game seminar where FishBanks developed by Dennis Meadows, is played and the follow-up assignment. Before the students attend the game seminar, they have to complete this preparation assignment and after playing the game, they need to complete the follow-up assignment. This STM is one out of four similar modules; Perspective and Values where they play a game called Dilemma, developed by Jon-Erik Dahlin;
Critical materials and circular economy where they play a game called In the loop - developed by Katie Whalen and lastly Climate change where they play a game called Clime out - developed by Sara Trulsson. Furthermore, all these four modules include preparation and follow-up assignments. Additionally, SE offers introduction lectures and other active learning packages. The following chapter will present an overview of the content in the STM at SE (SE, n.d.b).
4.1 Intended Learning outcomes
In an official learning institute, all planned learning situations with an educational purpose should have a structured goal of what the students shall learn, i.e., the purpose of the lesson or the seminar. This should furthermore be connected to the course and curriculums of that institution. This goal or purpose is referred to as intended learning outcomes (ILO).
In this case, it is the ILO from SE that the students, after completing all the steps in the STM, should be able to:
● Describe the tragedy of the commons, Ecosystem services and key concepts in system dynamics.
● Suggest strategies for managing or reducing risks for collapse in a complex system.
● Identify feedback-loops in a complex system and describe their sequence of
events by using words and terms from system dynamics.
4.2 The preparation assignment
Step one: Watch two online lectures
The first lecture, Complex systems, is around 23 minutes long, in which Dahlin explains a general definition of a system with the flows in and out; how a big complex system works, and why they can be hard to predict and understand fully.
Furthermore, the lecture explains how complex systems and system dynamics is related to SD by introducing the listener to words such as: Feedback-loops; Planetary boundaries; Stressing- and the resilience of a system and how systems can be stable, unstable or metastable; Tipping point; Threshold effect; System collapse and Tragedy of the commons. He then gives the ocean as an example of systems, where fishing is stressing the system into a potential collapse, as well as how to avoid it, which is related to the game FishBanks.
In the second lecture, Economic externalities (12 minutes), Dahlin explains the problem when the trading market affects a third part, so called third-party expenses or economic externalities. As an example he mentions how an accident in an oil rig, not only had costs for customers buying the oil and the company itself, it had costs for the sea life, fishermen along the coast and even retired people in England, as they owned a part of the company and saw a huge deficit in their profit. There are many examples like this in the trading market, as customers only pay for all the costs related to production of their product and the economic externalities are not included. As a solution to this, Dahlin says that we have to “Internalise the economic externalities”
for the capitalistic market to work sustainable. To be able to internalise these costs, they must therefore be valued, which is the reason for introducing the ecosystem services. Being able to value the ecosystem services, the economic externalities could be internalised.
Step two: Read a chapter in a book
In the second task, the students have to read the second chapter in the book: from the book "Hållbar utveckling: en introduktion för ingenjörer" by Dahlin (2014). The chapter consists of 18 pages about physical resources and complex systems where the last two pages are discussion topics as well as computing exercises. The first two topics of the chapter show and explain the “I = PAT” model which is an example of how it is possible to calculate and analyse sustainability with a growing population.
The upcoming two topics discuss physical- and natural resources while the last topics covers basic system understanding, with real examples from algae’s cultivation, discussions and assignments.
Step three: Write about ecosystem services
This task is about the ecosystem services and the students are first asked to visit the
homepage of Naturvårdsverket, The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to
more deeply understand the concept of ecosystem services. They are then asked to
mention three different ecosystem services they have “used” that day.
Step four: Tragedy of the commons
While the videolectures contain information about system collapses, this task introduces the concept: “Tragedy of the commons”. Here the students are asked to visit a homepage containing a list of real-life examples of tragedy of the commons and then describe the concept using their own words.
Step five: System dynamics
The fifth task is about system dynamics and complex systems as the students are asked to look at a model which shows the graph of two populations, wolves and moose. The complex system is furthermore explained with concepts from the videolectures about systems. The students are then asked to press the “Play” button, after which the simulation begins.
The simulation shows how the size of the populations increases and decreases as an effect of each other. The students are then asked to note the following:
(1) How the size of the predator population increases when there is lot of prey (2) How the size of the prey population decreases with more wolves or food competition
(3) The delay that happens between the populations.
Step six: FishBanks preparation
In the last preparation assignment, the students receive the information that they will play a game called FishBanks. They are informed that it is a role play game where they will play the role of fishing companies. Afterwards, they are asked to read the instructions for the game, as well as look at a graph showing the birth rate, or regrowth, of the fishes in the sea (see figure 5).
Figure 5: Regrowth of the fish population retrieved from Snowflake Education
After looking at the graph (see figure 5), the students have to answer when the regrowth is at the fastest rate and explain how they arrived at that answer.
4.3 The game seminar
In the STM, the game seminar is mainly about playing the game, FishBanks, but it also contains other information that SE provides through a PowerPoint (PPT) presentation. The game seminar is divided into three parts; introduction, playing the game and lastly debriefing. This chapter will present the three parts. For simplicity reasons, the following will firstly describe the FishBanks game, followed by a description of the introduction and the debriefing parts, even though the introduction comes first in the game seminar.
4.3.1 FishBanks - the game
FishBanks, originally developed by Dennis Meadows and furthermore developed by John Sterman and Andrew King as well as Snowflake Education, is a game that illustrates the sustainability issues facing organizations by challenging players to build a profitable commercial fishing business without depleting fish stocks (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020).
SE describes FishBanks as a “(...) Demonstration of the concept of the tragedy of the commons, an introduction to system thinking, and trains strategic decision making with limited access to information” (SE, n.d.b). Furthermore, SE describes how the aim of the game is to let students have an opportunity to gain knowledge through active learning: “(...) Managing a renewable resource (fish) within the framework of a complex system with both reinforcing and dampening feedback loops and elements of competition as well as collaboration” (SE, n.d.b., para.2).
More specifically, FishBanks is a role game about system dynamics, where the participants, in this case the students, play the role of fishing companies. Their task is to manage a fishing company and their fleets by making decisions based on previous years results, while their objective is to maximize the assets of this fishing company. In the game there are typically between 7 and 10 years (rounds) that are played during a game seminar. Every year, the results of their choices are calculated by a simulation program, depending on the input (i.e., the students’ choices). In the following, the most up to date version of FishBanks will be explained, as it is played by SE.
The results are presented for the students as an email from their accountant, showing
the key figures from the previous year of fishing (see figure 6).
Figure 6: Results from the previous year retrieved from Snowflake Education
The students are then told to copy this result (R:1 to R:7) into their decision form (see figure 7) and fill out their decisions for the coming years (D:1 to D:11).
Figure 7: Decisions form retrieved from Snowflake Education
In the decision form, D:1 to D:6 are filled in if the team wishes to buy ships from auction or other teams, while D:7 are filled in if they want to order ships from the shipyard (see figure 7). There is no limit as to how many ships they can buy from auctions or other teams and those ships will furthermore be a part of their fleet right away. The limit for ordering from the shipyard is on the other hand set to half of their existing fleet (rounded up) and will moreover take the shipyard a year to produce.
Hence, if they choose to buy ships in auctions, they can both order more from the shipyard (as their fleet immediately gets bigger) as well as use these ships right away for fishing. The last decisions taken before “going fishing” is which areas to fish in.
This is decided in D:9 to D:11 (see figure 7), where the teams have to decide how
their fleet should be distributed between the deep sea (dark blue), the coast (light blue) or the harbour (to the left). Once the teams have made their decisions, the students are asked to physically put their ships into the chosen areas on the playing board (see figure 7).
Figure 8: Playing board for FishBanks retrieved from Snowflake Education
In the example shown in the playing board above, most of the students chose to fish in the coastal area. Additionally, it can be seen in the upper left corner of the playing board that four ships (three red and one white) were produced for next year in the shipyard (see figure 8).
The students have a complex task, due to a set of factors. Their assets are a combination of how much fish they catch, the size of their fishing fleet and their bank balance. This means they have to decide how many ships to buy, or sell every round (in the game every round symbolizes a year) and where the ships should go to: deep sea (more catch, more costs), coastal area (less catch, less costs) or stay in the harbour (no catch, but low cost). Furthermore, they have to pay interest (15 percent) if their bank balance is negative but will on the other hand receive money (10 percent) from the bank if their bank balance is positive.
The teacher, or the game leader, will play the role of the ship building company. The bank will always lend out money to the fishing companies if they want to order new ships or fish (operating costs). The digital simulation program will decide how many fish there are left in the oceans and at the same time keep track of the financial values of the companies. Since the fishing companies (i.e. the students) can see where the other companies fish, as well as the total assets of every company each year, they have the ability to adapt their decisions for the coming year based on the previous year, and thereby maximize next year’s profits (assets).
It is suggested by SE that the game leader holds auctions sometimes during the first
couple of years, to get the students started in buying ships. This also speeds up the
process of the game. The game often reaches a point where the fishing companies will notice a decrease in their profits, which indicates that the fish is not reproducing enough to match the depletion, i.e., there is overfishing. It is recommended at this point to pause the game and tell a story that indicates how the fishes are not recovering from all the ongoing fishing. This story is up to the game leaders, in how detailed it should be, but should end by letting the teams have the option of discussing a change in the strategy. To be able to continue fishing and make a profit, the companies must therefore collaborate and make deals, in order to keep the fishing at a sustainable level. Typically, the game goes on for a few more years where the most common scenario is a total depletion of the ocean, where the simulation is aborted, and the game leader goes to the debriefing part. However, if the students manage to collaborate in order to make a deal, i.e., keep the fishing at a sustainable level, the simulation will as well be aborted, but rather discuss the same issues in the debriefing material, but explain why they made it work.
4.3.2 The introduction
Figure 9: The introduction PPT slides in the Game seminar retrieved from Snowflake Education
The first eight slides in the introduction part covers an introduction to the game
seminar, including the agenda, and presents the physical material of the game (1 to
8). After the introduction, role descriptions in the teams are meant to be decided (9),
the goal of the game (maximizing their assets) with associated explanations of how
the assets are calculated, and a crash course in economy, where the upcoming slides
presents the incomes and expenses in the game (11 to 15) (see figure 9).
The next part explains the rules, more specifically, the slides contain information about the fleets, how to increase it by ordering ships and how to decrease it by selling to other teams (16 to 18). Subsequently, the catch of the fish is explained with associated graphs of the fish stock, the catch for fishing in the deep sea and coast area and the associated costs (19 to 21). Lastly, the final slides before the game start contains tips/guidance, e.g. the graph from assignment six is presented to show the re-growth rate as well as the recommendation to implement a strategy. There is also a graph that indicates how the catch corresponds to the number of ships in the earlier years (21 to 23) (see figure 9).
4.3.3 The debriefing
Figure 10: The debriefing PPT slides in the Game seminar retrieved from Snowflake Education
