A role-playing game to complement teaching activities in an 'environmental impact assessment' teaching course

Every project development that could possibly have negative environmental impacts must undergo a technical-administrative procedure called environmental impact assessment (EIA), which ensures that all environmental implications are properly considered before making a decision and that negative impacts are minimized. Therefore, in many universities, technology-oriented master's degree programs include EIA teaching courses. At the University of Firenze (Italy), one such EIA course module was complemented by a role-playing game in which students acted as typical characters involved in a (simulated) public debate concerning the possible development of a geothermal plant in a rural environment. The roles were designed with competing objectives and contrasting codes of conduct; therefore, the evolution of the debate and the final outcome (acceptance/rejection of the project) were completely in the hands of the players. The game was played with different classes, and the experience was successful. The students reported that the following objectives were reached: (i) they had fun; (ii) they put into practice some theoretical concepts learned during the lessons; (iii) they understood that aspects other than technical ones can be involved in decision processes and dealing with them without proper preparation is very difficult. This last point was considered particularly important, and demonstrated that this role-playing game represented a valuable complement to the main teaching activities.