Learning Through Simulated Governance: A Game-Based Approach to Interdisciplinary Sustainability Education

Graduates entering policy and political fields face complex, real-world sustainability challenges. Effective education must therefore bridge disciplines, foster collaborative learning, and cultivate systemic thinking. This contribution presents a game-based simulation designed to immerse students and future decision-makers in the intricate realities of land management, climate change, and economic policy across five West African countries.

Within this transformative teaching approach, participants assume leadership roles, making strategic decisions within a dynamic scenario. The simulation is designed to confront participants with complex situations and setbacks, allowing them to explore possibilities and experience the cascading consequences of their choices within their assigned roles. It reveals how abstract concepts, like policy trade-offs, cross-sectoral interdependencies, and long-term climatic feedback manifests in tangible, often unforeseen outcomes. This tool illuminates the hidden complexity behind seemingly straightforward political choices, challenging participants' assumptions and fostering essential interdisciplinary thinking.

We discuss this as an effective and engaging practice for interdisciplinary education. The game facilitates peer learning and collaborative problem-solving in a compelling environment, aligning it with teaching methodologies like problem-based learning. It is supposed to equip learners with competencies to tackle complex sustainability problems. This paper focuses on the pedagogical benefits and participant learning outcomes. It further contributes to actionable insights to the repertoire of modalities for interdisciplinary geoscience and sustainability education, emphasizing the value of simulated experience for professional preparation.