Sustainability at Play: Educational Design Research for the Development of a Digital Educational Resource for Primary Education

Abstract

Quality education is an indispensable element for the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as it equips all children with the essential skills to promote sustainable development within the context of their lifestyles, in line with the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG4). This will have to be an innovative education, not only in the contents and guidelines to be followed but also in the educational strategies and resources to be used. This article aims to present and describe the methodology used to develop the digital educational resource (DER) “Sustainability at Play,” a serious game intended for primary education and based on the concept of the ecological footprint. This DER was developed through educational design research (EDR) by a multidisciplinary team within a project to create Digital Educational Resources for Primary Education. The EDR approach was organized in four phases—Phase I—Problem Analysis, Phase II—Exploration of Possible Solutions, Phase III—Design, and Phase IV—Reflection—allowing for an iterative DER development process shared by different participants (researchers, illustrators, web designers, primary school teachers and students). As a result, this study enabled not only the development of an innovative DER to work on issues related to education for sustainability in primary school but also the understanding and validation of the suitability of the EDR methodology for the development of this type of educational resource.