Abstract Awareness of environmental sustainability issues alone is not enough. Environmental Sustainability Education (ESE) should produce changes in attitude and encourage lifelong behaviors. However, behavioral changes are curtailed by constraints and negative perceptions, necessitating the use of persuasive pedagogical tools in ESE. Digital game-based learning (DGBL) environments can provide cognitive knowledge, besides emotionally engaging learners by letting them test new behaviors and seeing the consequences instantly. This study examined the effectiveness of DGBL in producing attitudinal and behavioral changes regarding environmental sustainability and about learning experiences from a game, through a mixed methods study. One group of undergraduate students in an educational technology course played EnerCities, an ESE game. Another group played a Science game that was not connected to ESE. The Attitudinal Learning Instrument was administered to collect quantitative data pertaining to attitudinal and behavioral learning after one week and after five weeks of game play. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to develop a model to measure learning. PLS-SEM helps analyze relationships simultaneously in complex models. Quantitative data analysis using PLS-SEM showed that EnerCities was effective in producing attitudinal and behavioral changes that were retained until one week of game play. Thematic analysis of qualitative data, collected through interviews after five weeks of game play, helped interpret why and how attitudinal changes were produced by the game. This provided insights into what game features facilitated cognitive, affective, behavioral and social learning and learning retention, that could be used in future game design. Future research could apply the measurement model to measure long-term retention of attitudinal and behavioral learning using games and other interventions on socio-scientific topics.

中文翻译：

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探索数字游戏在环境可持续性教育中产生态度学习的有效性：混合方法研究

摘要 仅仅意识到环境可持续性问题是不够的。环境可持续性教育 (ESE) 应该改变态度并鼓励终身行为。然而，行为改变受到约束和负面看法的限制，因此需要在 ESE 中使用有说服力的教学工具。基于数字游戏的学习 (DGBL) 环境可以通过让学习者测试新行为并立即看到后果来提供认知知识，除了情感上吸引学习者。本研究通过混合方法研究，检验了 DGBL 在产生有关环境可持续性和游戏学习经验的态度和行为变化方面的有效性。一组参加教育技术课程的本科生玩了 ESE 游戏 EnerCities。另一组玩了一个与 ESE 无关的科学游戏。使用态度学习工具收集与玩游戏一周后和五周后的态度和行为学习有关的定量数据。偏最小二乘结构方程模型 (PLS-SEM) 用于开发一个模型来衡量学习。PLS-SEM 有助于同时分析复杂模型中的关系。使用 PLS-SEM 的定量数据分析表明，EnerCities 在产生态度和行为变化方面是有效的，这些变化一直保持到玩游戏一周。对游戏进行五周后通过采访收集的定性数据的专题分析有助于解释游戏产生态度变化的原因和方式。这提供了对哪些游戏功能促进认知、情感、行为和社会学习以及学习保留，可用于未来的游戏设计。未来的研究可以应用测量模型，使用游戏和其他社会科学主题的干预措施来衡量态度和行为学习的长期保留。