Honor for educational role-playing game

On 27 June 2019, Manual Stamm was awarded the third place prize of German Simulation Game Award for his bachelor thesis “Role-playing games as an educational tool – Adapting and evaluating the CoPalCam role-playing game on the issue of palm oil with secondary students.”

Manuel completed his thesis in the framework of the SNSF funded outreach project Edible Research. He adapted a game that researchers had developed for stakeholder workshops on the palm oil value chain in Cameroon (CoPalCam), so that the game could be implemented in Swiss secondary school classrooms. He then evaluated how well the game worked in a school setting and how it supported student's learning about palm oil and issues related to it.

The game was a great success with teachers and teenagers and was played by approximately 150 teenagers and 30 teachers as part of Edible Research workshops at Zurich secondary schools. Several game boxes are now available at teacher training universities, and the game continues to be played in schools.

Congratulations to Manuel!