We are in 2026, and we are feeling the planetary boundaries affecting our everyday physical and mental health (Patz & al., 2005; Climate Change and Human Behaviour, 2022). What and how do we feel when we are in our workplaces in July and need air conditioning (IEA, 2023), or when we receive a notification on our phone that temperatures will continue to reach record highs this year (Minet, 2025)?

According to Crutzen and Stoermer (2000), the Anthropocene era, which began around the 1850s, has seen an escalation in the carbon impacts and effects of human society in everyday life and across biodiversity. Sustainability discussions began in 1972 with the report The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972), moving from shyness to “mainstream” subjects (Castro, 2004), to now being back in the daily news, creating controversial discussions, and becoming a challenge (Fischer & al., 2023). Society continues to follow the “business as usual” approach, as if there were sufficient resources, causing sustainability goals to fail (Palomo & al., 2024). It’s time for change.

Human learning influences everyday behaviours and decisions, including social interactions, consumption, travel, and psychological well-being (Green & Bavelier, 2008). Education has the mission of enabling children to manage their future and to play an active role in society (UNESCO, 2015).

Adaptation and sustainability have entered educational debates. In Switzerland, policymakers acknowledge the need to integrate these topics into schools. However, the aspects teachers should address, the depth of classroom discussions, the methods for implementation, and the time allocated to these themes have not yet been clearly specified (Curnier, 2017, pp. 293, 377).

One possibility for integrating these interdisciplinary topics could be games. Collaborative game-based approaches allow children to develop both hard and soft skills (Abdul Jabbar & Felicia, 2015; Hui & Mahmud, 2023). They also offer opportunities for collective reflection and teamwork (Abdul Jabbar & Felicia, 2015), while opening the door to creativity (Daniau, 2016), which can support pupils in their future lives (Romero & al., 2015).

“Games of imagination” (Karwowski & Soszynski, 2008) allow pupils to immerse themselves and engagein different situations (Huynh & al., 2020; Zhang & al., 2025). In the school context, Edu-RPGs (Educational Role-Playing Games) enable students to enhance identity-building, critical thinking, and expression, while fostering motivation, communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills through experiential and reflective learning (Martinez-Lejarreta & al., 2024). Communicating and playing together, in new situations and through problem-solving, develops teamwork habits (Daniau, 2016). 

Problem-solving can be approached in various ways, depending on the nature of the problem itself (Csapó & Funke, 2017). Well-structured problems are characterized by a clearly defined initial state, a known goal state, and a constrained set of logical operations that lead to correct and convergent solutions. They follow a direct and linear path, guided by strict parameters and defined outcomes. In contrast, Ill-structured problems are open-ended and complex, resembling real-life dilemmas with unpredictable outcomes. Their resolution is iterative and adaptive, requiring creativity and the integration of diverse knowledge domains (Jonassen, 1997), innovative minds are precisely what our society needs now and in the future, to hold challenges.

To build problem-solving skills through iterative and creative processes, Design Thinking methods represent a powerful tool when implemented at work and in classrooms (Henriksen & al., 2017; Foster, 2021). These methods can focus on exploring all aspects of problems through multiple sources and iterations (Carroll & al., 2010), while encouraging creativity and idea-sharing.

This research investigates the potential of a collaborative table-top game to introduce sustainability in primary education, while using Design Thinking to foster creativity, problem-solving, and essential soft skills. 

The research adopts a design-based research (DBR) methodology, which is suited to investigating learning processes while simultaneously developing and refining educational interventions in classroom contexts (Sandoval & Bell, 2004b; Collective, 2003). This approach supports the iterative design, implementation, analysis, and redesign of a collaborative table-top role-playing game designed to engage pupils in sustainability-related problem-solving scenarios. Through the use of fictional yet realistic situations, the game encourages collaboration, discussion, and creativity, brought by Design Thinking tools through play and supporting pupils’ reflection on decisions and outcomes. The study will be structured around two gameplay sessions with the same groups of pupils, allowing for the observation of both initial engagement and subsequent evolution in understanding, collaborative dynamics, and problem-solving strategies. In line with DBR principles, insights from the first session may inform adjustments to the game design before the second session. This research will focus on pupils aged 8 to 10 years old (5H–6H) in Switzerland, as children become aware of sustainability-related challenges at an increasingly young age (Erol, 2024), and eco-anxiety already affects 42% of primary school–aged children (Hensler & al., 2025), it is essential to equip them with tools to understand and address these challenges. According to Bruner (1963), any subject can be taught to any child in an intellectually honest form. He argues that learning should begin as early as possible, as children develop by being confronted with meaningful problems that stimulate thinking, promote growth, and support their cognitive development. Data collection will combine qualitative and quantitative methods to capture changes over time. Pupils will complete a questionnaire before and after to the two gameplay sessions, enabling an examination of the evolution of their understanding of sustainability-related challenges, their attitudes toward collaboration, and their perceptions of problem-solving processes. These questionnaires will be complemented by classroom observations, audio and video recordings of gameplay sessions, and the analysis of pupils’ interactions, decisions, and game-produced artefacts. Semi-structured interviews with teachers and reflective feedback from pupils will provide additional perspectives on engagement, usability, and perceived learning outcomes. Data analysis will rely primarily on qualitative thematic analysis, focusing on patterns of collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving, as well as the ways in which pupils appropriate Design Thinking practices through play, while pre- and post-questionnaire responses will be used to contextualise and comment on observed developments across the two sessions.

This research is expected to provide an idea of how Design Thinking can be introduced to pupils aged 8 to 10 and to assess its potential within a school context. The collaborative tabletop game is anticipated to encourage discussion, reflection and idea-sharing among pupils, potentially extending beyond the classroom to spark conversations within their families. The study will explore whether collaborative Design Thinking games in education should be investigated further as a means of strengthening sustainability awareness, supporting active problem-solving skills and reducing eco-anxiety in children.

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