The Role of Simulation and Serious Games in Teaching Concepts on Circular Economy and Sustainable Energy

The prevailing need for a more sustainable management of natural resources depends not only on the decisions made by governments and the will of the population, but also on the knowledge of the role of energy in our society and the relevance of preserving natural resources. In this sense, critical w...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: de la Torre, Rocio, Onggo, Bhakti, Corlu, Canan G., Nogal, Maria, Juan, Angel A.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Repositorio:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
OAI Identifier:oai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/147605
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10609/147605
https://doi.org/10.3390/en14041138
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:circular economy
sustainable energy
simulation
serious games
higher education
economia circular
energia sostenible
simulació
joc seriós
educació superior
economía circular
energía sostenible
simulación
juegos formativos
educación superior
Descripción
Sumario:The prevailing need for a more sustainable management of natural resources depends not only on the decisions made by governments and the will of the population, but also on the knowledge of the role of energy in our society and the relevance of preserving natural resources. In this sense, critical work is being done to instill key concepts—such as the circular economy and sustainable energy—in higher education institutions. In this way, it is expected that future professionals and managers will be aware of the importance of energy optimization, and will learn a series of computational methods that can support the decision-making process. In the context of higher education, this paper reviews the main trends and challenges related to the concepts of circular economy and sustainable energy. Besides, we analyze the role of simulation and serious games as a learning tool for the aforementioned concepts. Finally, the paper provides insights and discusses open research opportunities regarding the use of these computational tools to incorporate circular economy concepts in higher education degrees. Our findings show that, while efforts are being made to include these concepts in current programs, there is still much work to be done, especially from the point of view of university management. In addition, the analysis of the teaching methodologies analyzed shows that, although their implementation has been successful in favoring the active learning of students, their use (especially that of serious games) is not yet widespread.