Satoyama Forest Management Learning Game for SDGs Education:

Comparing the Effect of Providing Additional Information in the

First Half and Latter Half of the Game

Koga Yago

, Yukiya Shingai

, Wakana Kobayashi

, Ryota Aoki

, Yoshiaki Takeda

Fusako Kusunoki

, Hiroshi Mizoguchi

, Masanori Sugimoto

, Hideo Funaoi

, Etsuji Yamaguchi

and Shigenori Inagaki

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda-shi, Chiba-ken, Japan

Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, Hyogo, Japan

Department of Information Design, Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan

Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan

Faculty of Education, Soka University, Tokyo, Japan

Keywords: Science Education, Biodiversity, Environmental Conservation of Forests, Vegetation Succession.

Abstract: Conservation of biodiversity and the forest environment has become increasingly important in Japan because

it has been set as the 15th sustainable development goals (SDGs). In Japan, Satochi-satoyama is currently

drawing researchers’ attention from the perspective of learning about forests and biodiversity. However, there

are concerns that the biodiversity of Satoyama will soon deteriorate both in quality and in quantity due to the

decline in the population that manages it. Therefore, Satoyama management needs to be promoted through

education to continue sustainable development. The authors are currently developing a simulation game called

"Satoyama Management Game" to use it as an effective tool for learners to absorb in-game information about

Satoyama and learn about the process involved. In this paper, we discuss the experiments conducted to

investigate the effect of providing in-game information on learners and present its results.

1 INTRODUCTION

In recent years, educational activities focusing on

biodiversity conservation and forest environment

conservation have become increasingly important

because conserving terrestrial ecosystems has been

set as the 15th sustainable development goal (United

Nations, 2015).

In Japan, Satochi-satoyama is attracting attention

to learn about forests and biodiversity. Satochi-

satoyama refers to areas comprising farmlands,

irrigation ponds, secondary forests, plantation forests,

and grasslands that border human settlements. Even

before the SDGs were established, Satoyama has

been part of the rich culture of people coexisting with

nature through the use of recycled resources and

intervention in vegetation. The Satoyama landscape

serves as a valuable model of a nature-harmonious

society because it fosters the biodiversity of a

secondary natural environment created through

interaction between human activities and nature

(Takeuchi, 2020).

However, with the declining population, an aging

population, and changes in the industrial structure,

many Satoyama are exposed to major environmental

changes due to the reduced circulation of natural

resources with the exploitation of Satoyama forests

and wild grasslands. There are concerns that the

biodiversity of Satoyama will deteriorate in terms of

both quality and quantity (Ministry of the

Environment, Government of Japan, 2010). It is

necessary therefore to learn about Satoyama

management and continue Satoyama conservation

and sustainable development (Dublin and Tanaka,

2014).

Games have always been found to support

learning (Prensky, 2003) (Calderón and Ruiz, 2014).

Thus, various learning support games have been

developed to learn how to manage Satoyama and the

ecosystem. The Satoyama management game we

developed is a simulation game. Learners can

Yago, K., Shingai, Y., Kobayashi, W., Aoki, R., Takeda, Y., Kusunoki, F., Mizoguchi, H., Sugimoto, M., Funaoi, H., Yamaguchi, E. and Inagaki, S.

Satoyama Forest Management Learning Game for SDGs Education: Comparing the Effect of Providing Additional Information in the First Half and Latter Half of the Game.

DOI: 10.5220/0010473703470351

In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2021) - Volume 1, pages 347-351

ISBN: 978-989-758-502-9

347

experience simulating Satoyama management on a

longer time scale than usual, such as 10 or 100 years.

Kawaguchi et al. (2017, 2018) developed a

Satoyama management game in which learners

become Satoyama managers to learn Satoyama

management methods and vegetation successions.

We improved on the user interface of the Satoyama

management game and added in-game information

(Shingai et al., 2020). We conducted an experiment

on elementary school students and confirmed that the

improved user interface enhances the immersive

feeling of the game. However, the effect of adding in-

game information on learners' understanding was not

investigated.

We conducted an experiment to clarify whether

the in-game information added by Shingai et al.

(2020) enhanced learners’ understanding of

Satoyama. The results of the experiment confirmed

that the added in-game information was indeed

effective in promoting learners' understanding. The

results also indicated that presenting in-game

information after the learner has become accustomed

to the game would make the game more effective.

The remainder of this paper is organized as

follows. Section 2 describes the Satoyama

management game previously developed by us.

Section 3 describes the experiments performed and

their results, and Section 4 presents an evaluation of

the experimental results and the rationale. Finally,

Section 5 summarizes the main conclusions.

2 SATOYAMA FOREST

MANAGEMENT GAME

2.1 Overview of the Game

The simulation game developed can help learners

understand Satoyama management and vegetation

successions. In the game, learners can experience

Satoyama management on a time scale of 10 years or

100 years, which is not possible for ordinary people

to experience. Learners understand the difficulty of

maintaining a Satoyama environment and sustainable

development. Figure 1 shows the play screen of the

Satoyama management game developed by us

(Shingai et al., 2020)

Learners manage Satoyama once per turn using

one of the six management methods mentioned at the

bottom of the screen. When converted to real time,

one turn manages about 15 years, and one game

manages Satoyama for 20 turns, which adds up to 300

years.

Figure 1: Play screen of Satoyama management game by

Shingai et al. (2020).

In the game, there are early-, middle-, and late-

stage types of tree species on the vegetation

succession of Satoyama. Each tree has different

characteristics, such as tree height, or pattern of

growth.

Learners aim to maintain an ideal Satoyama

environment by referring to the score displayed on the

upper left of the game screen. Scores of the game

ranged from 0 point to 100 points. The more ideal the

number and proportion of trees, the higher the score.

For 20 turns, the learner seeks the ideal tree ratio and

effective management methods. By repeating this

game, users can learn Satoyama management and

vegetation successions.

2.2 Additional In-game Information

In our previous research, we added a meter for the

number of trees and an information picture with the

characteristics of trees, as shown in Figure 2 and

Figure 3 (Kawaguchi et al., 2018) (Shingai et al.,

2020). This is important information for Satoyama,

but there has been no study to verify whether learners

are making good use of this information during play.

2.2.1 Information Picture

The information picture is displayed at the top of the

screen when the cursor hovers over each tree (Figure

2). In this picture, important information has been

written for the game, such as wood types and features.

Checking the information provided in the pictures

will help learners find appropriate Satoyama

management methods.

CSEDU 2021 - 13th International Conference on Computer Supported Education

348

Figure 2: Information picture display.

Figure 3: Vegetation meter display.

2.2.2 Vegetation Meter

The vegetation meter shows whether there are many

or few trees (Figure 3). The early- and late-stage

species appear in red when the ideal number of trees

is exceeded, and the middle-stage species appear in

red when the number of trees is much smaller than the

ideal number. Learners are not aware of this

condition. Learners need to find the right percentage

of trees through the play.

3 EXPERIMENT

3.1 Experimental Design

The Satoyama management game experiment was

conducted over four days, from October 27 to

October 30, 2020. The participants in this experiment

were 22 students from the Tokyo University of

Science.

3.2 Experimental Method

To clarify whether in-game information helps

learners understand Satoyama, we prepared two types

of Satoyama management games: one with the

information added and the other without the

information mentioned above.

We assessed the level of understanding of the

participants from their scores when playing with and

without the added information. Further, to investigate

whether the timing of providing in-game information

affects the score of participants, we divided the

participants into two groups, A and B, and compared

the scores.

In the six rounds of the game played, Group A was

given the information in the first three rounds, and

Group B in the latter three rounds.

3.3 Experimental Result

Table 1 presents the summary of the final scores for

each round for each participant. Group A participants

were assigned numbers starting with A, and Group B

participants were assigned numbers starting with B.

For convenience, 16 out of 22 participants were

omitted, and only 8 were listed under each group.

Table 1: Final score for each round after 6 rounds.

Participant

Numbe

Final Score for Each Round

First Half Latter Half

1 2 3 4 5 6

A1 69 67 63 54 55 65

A2 57 62 60 31 37 35

A3 66 29 66 67 34 74

A4 45 14 56 54 64 77

A9 6 15 56 62 55 59

A10 30 34 29 30 41 58

A11 26 54 70 56 56 61

A12 32 60 47 45 68 59

B1 18 18 64 64 64 53

B2 41 70 66 78 69 65

B3 33 53 44 61 61 64

B4 69 75 72 70 72 56

B7 60 66 66 76 77 70

B8 47 67 70 62 74 63

B9 32 36 65 69 77 77

B10 56 65 44 55 65 55

Satoyama Forest Management Learning Game for SDGs Education: Comparing the Effect of Providing Additional Information in the First

Half and Latter Half of the Game

349

4 ASSESSMENT

The average score is calculated from the experimental

results shown in Table 1. We compared the results of

the first half and the latter half to assess the validity

of the additional information and compared the

results of each group to assess the impact of the

timing of giving information.

4.1 Assessing Effectiveness of

Providing In-game Information

Figure 4 shows the average scores of the participants

in the first half and the latter half. Figure 4 reveals that

there is almost no difference in the average points in

the first half of Group A and Group B. This implies

that learners are unaware about using the information

well in the first half. At the start of the game, learners

may not yet be accustomed to the game. On the other

hand, Group B’s scores improved significantly in the

latter half as information was added after getting used

to the game. Thus, it may be inferred that it is more

effective to provide information after learners have

become accustomed to the game.

4.2 Effect of the Timing of Providing

Information

We compared the average scores of each participant

in the first half and the second half and divided them

into those whose scores increased those whose scores

decreased. Participants whose scores had a difference

of less than 1 point were classified as almost

unchanged. Figure 5 shows the percentage of

participants whose scores showed an increase and

those whose scores showed a decrease in each group

According to Figure 5, 42% of Group A

participants showed a reduced score in the latter half

while in Group B, no decrease was seen in anyone’s

score. By playing the Satoyama management game

repeatedly, participants tended to increase their scores

(Shingai et al., 2020). These results lead us to

understand that the scores of Group A decreased

because of lack of information. Thus, it was

confirmed that in-game information is important for

increasing the scores. In other words, the added in-

game information is effective in helping learners

understand.

Figure 4: Comparison of average scores for the first half and

the latter half.

Figure 5: Percentage of participants whose score increased

and whose score decreased in each group.

5 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE

WORK

This paper describes how in-game information added

to the Satoyama management game of Shingai et al.

(2020) can help learners understand the process of

Satoyama management better. The experiment

performed on university students in playing the

Satoyama management game confirmed that the

learners' scores increased when presented with the

additional information. Further, if the information

were presented after learners got used to the game, it

was found to be more effective than if it were

presented at the start of the game.

In future, we aim to develop a system that can

infer missing information from learners' scores and

patterns of play and present the requisite information

on priority.

52,3

55,8

51,9

65,8

First Half

Average Score

Latter Half

Average Score

Score [point]

Group A

Group B

50%

80%

20%

42%

0% 50% 100%

Group A

Group B

Score Increased (First Half < Latter Half)

Almost Unchanged (First Half ≒ Latter Half)

Score Decreased (First Half > Latter Half)

CSEDU 2021 - 13th International Conference on Computer Supported Education

350

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI, Grant

Number JP19H01734.

REFERENCES

Calderón, A., & Ruiz, M., 2014. Bringing Real-life Practice

in Software Project Management Training Through a

Simulation-based Serious Game. In Proceedings of the

6th International Conference on Computer Supported

Education (CSEDU2014). Vol. 2. Barcelona, Spain,

April, pp. 117-124.

Dublin, R., & Tanaka, N. 2014. Indigenous agricultural

development for sustainability and “Satoyama”

Geography, Environment, Sustainability, 7(2), pp. 86-

95.

Kawaguchi, S., Sakai, T., Tamaki, H., Mizoguchi, H.,

Egusa, R., Takeda, Y., Yamaguchi, E., Inagaki, S.,

Kusunoki, F., Funaoi, H., Masanori, S., 2017.

SATOYAMA: Time-limited decision game for

management. In Proceedings of the 9th International

Conference on Computer Supported Education

(CSEDU2017). Springer International Publishing. New

York, vol. 1, April, pp. 481-486.

Kawaguchi, S., Mizoguchi, H., Egusa, R., Takeda, Y.,

Yamaguchi, E., Inagaki, S., Kusunoki, F., Funaoi, H.,

Masanori, S., 2018. A forestry management game as a

learning support system for increased understanding of

vegetation succession- effective environmental

education towards a sustainable society. In Proceedings

of the 10th International Conference on Computer

Supported Education (CSEDU2018). vol. 1.

SciTePress. Setubal, Portugal, March, pp. 322-327.

Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan, 2010.

Action plan for the conservation and sustainable use of

socio-ecological production landscapes (Satochi-

satoyama), Government of Japan. Tokyo, Japan.

Prensky, M., 2003. Digital game-based learning.

Computers in Entertainment (CIE). Association for

Computing Machinery. vol. 1, No.1. New York,

October, pp. 1-4.

Shingai, Y., Aoki, R., Takeda, Y., Kusunoki, F.,

Mizoguchi, H., Sugimoto, M., Funaoi, H., Yamaguchi,

E. and Inagaki, S., 2020. Learning Support Game

System for Sustainable Development Goals Education:

Effects of Improved User Interface on Satoyama Forest

Management Learning. In Proceedings of the 12th

International Conference on Computer Supported

Education (CSEDU 2020). vol.1, SciTePress, Virtual,

Online, pp. 428-435.

Takeuchi, K. (2010). Rebuilding the relationship between

people and nature: the Satoyama Initiative. Ecological

research, 25(5), pp. 891-897.

United Nations, 2015. Transforming our world: The 2030

agenda for sustainable development, United Nations.

New York.

Satoyama Forest Management Learning Game for SDGs Education: Comparing the Effect of Providing Additional Information in the First

Half and Latter Half of the Game

351