Credit: This article is based on the scientific article “ Assessing the effectiveness of gamification in reducing domestic energy consumption: Lessons learned from the EnerGAware project” by Georgios Mylonas, Federica Paganelli, Giovanni Cuffaro, Ilaria Nesi and Dionysis Karantzis (Full citation and link available at the end of the article)
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With the climate crisis making it more urgent to act, saving energy is one great way to live more environmentally friendly. To make children aware of this, sustainable development and energy-saving behavior are gradually included in educational programs. The goal of such programs is to teach competences that are needed to come up with solutions to environmental issues.
Apart from traditional learning content and exams that test what has been learned, it is possible to teach this topic with more engaging methodologies. One more engaging methodology is gamification, which is the use of games in non-game context. By using gamification, including competition, it is possible to engage teachers and students, so that they can find ways to save energy in their daily life and put these into practice. This is why taking part in a fair and ethical competition makes energy-saving behavior more rewarding.
1. Triggering intrinsic motivation
The first reason why taking part in a competition makes energy-saving behavior more rewarding is that it triggers intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within, for example because it is fun to do. This as opposed to extrinsic motivation, which comes from an external reward or pressure. Intrinsic motivation can be triggered when students who play educational games find the learning content interesting and useful, because they notice that they learn something new from it. It can also be triggered when students are thrilled to do better than students in other schools.
Taking part in a competition is fun (credit: Syda Productions on Shutterstock)
2. Improving self-confidence
The second reason why taking part in a competition makes energy-saving behavior more rewarding is that it improves self-confidence. Students who learn that they take part in a competition may at first feel reluctant when they perceive it as a difficult or ambitious activity. But when they start to get to know the game and learn that energy-saving activities can also be small steps, they gain self-confidence. Being part of a community also encourages to do well.
3. Improving social bonding
The third reason why taking part in a competition makes energy-saving behavior more rewarding is that it improves social bonding. Being together in a competition improves the relationships with classmates. It also improves the team spirit in the class, because students realize that their work is relevant also for the work of other groups and makes them aware that they are part of a community.
Taking part in a competition improves the team spirit in the class (credit: New Africa on Shutterstock)
4. Triggering creativity
The fourth reason why taking part in a competition makes energy-saving behavior more rewarding is that it triggers creativity. For example, students in a school in Italy came up with the idea to turn off unnecessary lights and measured that this saves 21 kWh each day. Knowing this, they came up with further ideas, such as putting up signs to inspire others to switch off the lights as well. They were also able to transfer what they learned to other contexts, such as creating a poster to remind others to shut down the computer and projector when not in use. They even created a video giving simple tips on how to save energy and decrease pollution.
5. Making energy-saving behavior easier
The fifth reason why taking part in a competition makes energy-saving behavior more rewarding is that it makes putting solutions into practice easier. Some energy-saving solutions are hard to put into practice, because it costs a lot of money at first. For example when improving insulation or replacing lighting. By being able to come up with other ideas, it is possible to suggest solutions that are easy to put into practice.
Conclusion
So, taking part in a competition makes energy-saving behavior more rewarding as it triggers intrinsic motivation and creativity, improves self-confidence and social bonding, and makes energy-saving behavior easier.
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Credit
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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