Case Study

Unlocking a sociable
learning experience

UX/UI DesignUser ResearchProduct Design

Year

2025

Project

Educational Board Game

Problem

Current education often fails to engage students, lacking active, social, and exploratory elements. This contributes to issues with focus, social skills, and critical thinking. Existing educational games frequently miss the mark by superficially adding game elements without grounding in learning theory or user interaction, hindering their effectiveness. Excessive digital tech use also presents challenges.

Solution

The solution proposed is the design of a new educational tool: a tabletop game for 8th-grade Natural Sciences students. Using a user-centered design approach, the project aimed to create a tool that is genuinely engaging, promotes interaction, and effectively teaches curriculum content, specifically on sustainability and natural resources.

The Why

Who has never felt trapped in a classroom? Dreaded a test? Or maybe just not engaged with whatever was going on?

Maybe you're just a maverick student, but most students have suffered from these issues, and the truth is that it's not only understandable, it's expected.

Teaching methods haven't been made interesting, they don't provide feedback nor fast nor frequently enough. This leads to disengagement and slower learning. Students are also socialising less with another, there's a loneliness epidemic.

Games are extremely good at providing near instant and frequent feedback, they're also one of the main ways we as humans interact with one another. So why don't we try bringing them in?

The Who

There are two audiences suffering from these issues: Students and Teachers.

Students who feel disengaged from classes are more to perform poorly. Teachers who feel like they can't reach their students are also more at risk of underperforming. It's an endless loop.

So I opted to interview the people who spend the most time with them, often more than their parents: their teachers. So, what did they have to say?

Students are having trouble focusing and dealing with frustration

Students aren't interacting with each other as much as they used to

Teachers lack support from schools to implement new teaching methods

Students are too dependant on technology and its affecting their critical thinking skills

To better understand students needs and wants I conducted a participatory session with students where they had to build their own games or stories.

The projects students developed, the conversations that were had and even the observation of the classroom environment provided significant insights for further project development.

The What

The project resulted in a collaborative engine-building card game about sustainability for 8th graders.

Players manage resources, build infrastructure for energy/food, and handle pollution. The design process was iterative, starting with a core concept and refining it through multiple rounds of testing and feedback to improve mechanics, balance, and user experience.

Collaboration was a key part of the game, as teachers showed great worries about students' interpersonal skills, and a collaborative game would provide a platform for them learn to effectively communicate their ideas.

Iteration, Iteration

The game evolved through several testing and iteration loops. Early tests revealed issues like potential unplayable states and unbalanced elements, leading to rule adjustments, improved resource utility, and the introduction of round-based objectives and turn limits. Feedback from child psychologists influenced changes to improve cooperation, while testing with target users informed adjustments to pacing and balance.

2nd Iteration Changes

Problem:

Unplayable game states due to lack of available structures or necessary Extraction cards.

Changes:

Introduced a 'reroll' mechanic for available structure cards and had players start with all Extraction cards in hand.

Problem:

Unbalanced Structures and limited utility of Water.

Changes:

Adjusted costs and energy generation for some structures and made generating food cost Water to increase its usefulness

Problem:

Players skipping turns to avoid pollution due to unlimited turns to complete the goals

Changes:

Implemented round objectives requiring players to generate a certain amount of food and energy per round within a turn limit

Problem:

Players spamming structure activation instead of building.

Changes:

Limited structure activation to once per round to encourage building.

3rd Iteration Changes

Problem:

Using up a whole turn made sending resrources too punishing. Resulting in less collaboration.

Changes:

Changed sending resources to happen at the end of a turn, adding a small pollution cost per resources sent.

Problem:

Few ways for strategic collaboration.

Changes:

Added the option for players to swap extraction cards at the start of their turn.

Problem:

Games were taking too long to finish.

Changes:

Reduced the number of rounds from five to three.

Problem:

Unbalanced difficulty curve (first round too hard, later too easy).

Changes:

Increased the number of turns in the first round while decreasing turns in subsequent rounds.

User Testing

Final testing with 8th-grade students showed promising results. Surveys indicated good usability and positive impact on learning about sustainability. Crucially, the game was highly successful in promoting communication and collaboration among players, who actively strategized together. Key areas for improvement identified were game pacing, the balance/utility of certain game elements, and the desire for more individual agency.