Developed through a grant given by the Japan Foundation, Handang Heroes is a learning toolkit designed to help teachers and educators teach and reinforce Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) concepts through games. Each game is aligned with a particular outcome in the Department of Education’s DRR curriculum and co-designed with teachers, students, game designers, and environmental activists.
Task
How might we teach DRR concepts in a more engaging way?
Design
A kit of print-and-play games aligned with outcomes in the Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction subject for senior high school students
We learned from senior high school teachers that practical application, real-life examples and experiences, are common and powerful tools to reinforce theoretical knowledge in DRR education. However, students have limited hands-on and immersion experiences due to various constraints such as the lack of time and resources, and school policies aimed at ensuring the safety of their minor students. In a co-design session with DRR teachers, we rapidly brainstormed possible solutions to the challenge. From the different ideas that emerged, we decided to develop a toolkit of games as it seemed like the most practical way to address both motivation and engagement of the learners while providing the space for learners to practice skills derived from the theoretical knowledge they obtain in class.
Collaborating with diverse perspectives
We developed the games with DRR teachers and some freshman students from the UP College of Education who had experienced the DRR curriculum the year before as senior high school students. After initial development, several playtests were conducted with people from different backgrounds to refine the content and mechanics of each game and to gain a better understanding of its playability. Environmental advocates and doctors were consulted to verify the educational aspect of each game. Educators provided insights on using games in the classroom and how students of different age groups might interact with the games. Game designers provided more technical feedback on the mechanics and design of the game assets. Playtesting the games in the classroom with actual learners provided rich insight on how the learners would interact with the games and what teachers might need to manage the classroom during gameplay. Guided by these insights, we developed five games, each aligned with a particular outcome on the DRR curriculum. The games would be available for download online for accessibility, along with a game manual, print-and-play game assets, and tips on how to use and process the games in class.
