Game-based education promotes practices supporting sustainable water use
研究评估了意大利卢卡市面向2-4年级学生及其家庭的游戏化教育项目，发现该项目有效提升了学生的节水行为和与家长的讨论频率，且效果持续六个月。
We estimate the impact of a game-based educational program aimed at promoting practices for sustainable water usage among 2nd–4th grade students and their families living in the municipality of Lucca, Italy. To this purpose we exploited unique data from a quasi-experiment involving about two thousand students, one thousand participating (the treatment group) and one thousand not participating (the control group) in the program. Data were collected by means of a survey that we specifically designed and implemented to record students’ self-reported behaviors. Our estimates indicate that the program has been successful: the students in the program reported an increase in efficient water usage and an increase in the frequency of discussions with their parents about water usage; moreover, positive effects were still observed after six months. Our findings suggest that game-based educational programs can be an effective instrument to promote practices supporting sustainable water use behaviors in students and their parents.