Abstract for: Systemcheck – A System Dynamics learning game for students on urban-rural transport interactions

Systems thinking is a crucial skill, but one that is not easily acquired. In the real world, feedback is often delayed, ambiguous, obscured and complex. In System Dynamics models, connections are established in much more transparent and comprehensible ways and simulation makes experiments and scenario analysis possible. However, often the resulting models are too complicated to be easily understood by non-academics, such as students. In order to help them develop their systems thinking skills, an interactive, digital teaching and learning game based on simulations of social and ecological effects of mobility and transport in metropolitan and peripheral regions was developed in the nationally funded project Systemcheck. This game addresses topics of the Austrian 6th grade syllabus for the subject geography and economics, but focusses specifically on systemic interactions. It was co-developed with teachers and tested by 91 students in order to ensure the game’s appropriateness as open access teaching material.