Claudia-Santi Fernandes, Associate Research Scientist | play2PREVENT Lab, Yale Center for Health & Learning Games | Schell Games and John Joy, Advanced Producer | Schell Games Practice What You Preach: Strategies for a Positive Environment Funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the play2PREVENT Lab, Schell Games, and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence teamed up to develop a tool to measure school climate that was also a game empowering teens to take action and improve their school climate. Relatable stories throughout this digital experience allowed teens to navigate dilemmas in one’s school climate as well as strategize ways to address and make it better. Research shows that a positive school climate has a huge impact on the ability for a student to learn and achieve success. As our teams built out this digital experience, it was equally important for us to practice the many strategies within our process. Can we take the same strategies and concepts to foster a positive working environment that acknowledges our differences and challenges, but sets the lens on bringing out the best in our own unique dynamic? In essence, can we practice what we preach? Presented by the Serious Play Conference seriousplayconf.com at Montreal, Canada, Quebec, UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL, UNIVERSITY OF QUEBEC IN MONTREAL, July 10-12, 2019

1. The Development of a
School Climate Game
Serious Play Conference: Montréal
July 10, 2019

2. About us

3. Let’s take it back...

4. What is School Climate?
• The quality and character
of school life
• How everyone
experiences school
• The personality of one’s
school

5. Prior research links school climate to improvements in:
• Academic achievement
• Attendance
• Self-esteem
Background

6. Purpose
• To develop a videogame
intervention that teaches
teens skills with the goal of
empowering them to
improve their school
climate
• To embed this game into a
school climate assessment
tool for the purpose of
data collection

7. Process
Built by TEENS for TEENS!
Design Phase:
• Focus groups
Development Phase:
• Playtesting sessions
Evaluation Phase (in progress):
• Pilot game

8. The task at hand...
The Game Development Process

9. The question at hand...
• be as clear and transparent as
possible,
• encourage completion,
• and provide meaningful feedback?
The Core Game Mechanic
What gameplay mechanic could we utilize that would:

10. Overall Game DesignLikert QuestionsBasic Survey
Design of data collection

11. • With our tight schedule, we couldn’t
float multiple gameplay mechanics.
• And, we were all in on the swipe for
the survey.
• Could swiping work for an
interactive story game and tool?!
Developer: Nerial | Publisher: Devolver Digital
Release Date (Steam): August 11, 2016
All in on the swipe

12. Story Game
Short narratives that:
• Model the process of
restructuring negative
automatic thoughts
• Provide prompts for
reflection, thinking, and
planning
• Encourage a call to action

13. 1. Environment
2. Relationships
3. Support for Learning
4. Social Media
5. Safety
Five Mini-Games

14. Think It Through:
An adapted thought record
• FEEL IT
• NAME IT
• SYNC IT
• KNOW IT
• FLIP IT
• MASTER IT
Link emotion and thought
Develop a more balanced
thought with evidence
Create meaning from thought

15. Know It: Meaning-Making
• FEEL IT
• NAME IT
• SYNC IT
• KNOW IT
• FLIP IT
• MASTER IT
• SHARE IT
3 BASIC MOTIVES THAT GUIDE MEANING-MAKING
IN A WISE1 INTERVENTION:
1. The need to understand
2. The need for self-integrity
3. The need to belong
1Walton & Wilson, 2018
DEFINITION OF WISE1 INTERVENTIONS:
• Brief theory- and research-based
activities that help people change how
they interpret themselves, others, or
social situations

16. Social Media
1. Select your story*

17. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition

18. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It

19. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It
4. Name It

20. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It
4. Name It
5. Sync It*

21. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It
4. Name It
5. Sync It
6. Know It*

22. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It
4. Name It
5. Sync It
6. Know It
7. Flip It*

23. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It
4. Name It
5. Sync It
6. Know It
7. Flip It
8. Master It*

24. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It
4. Name It
5. Sync It
6. Know It
7. Flip It
8. Master It
9. Connect It*

25. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It
4. Name It
5. Sync It
6. Know It
7. Flip It
8. Master It
9. Connect It
10.Now What?

26. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It
4. Name It
5. Sync It
6. Know It
7. Flip It
8. Master It
9. Connect It
10.Now What?
11.Share It*

27. Social Media
1. Select your story
2. Exposition
3. Feel It
4. Name It
5. Sync It
6. Know It
7. Flip It
8. Master It
9. Connect It
10.Now What?
11.Share It*

28. 1. Describe an example where you experienced a negative
automatic thought
2. Apply Think It Through to your thought
Using the document provided:
Activity: Think It Through

29. Example:
play2PREVENT/Schell Games

30. Application of Think It Through
The teams felt anxious because they were
worried about failure to meet deadlines.
The teams were worried that they would not
live up to their commitments.
The teams will deliver because the teams are
thoughtful, communicative, and honest through
regular interactions that provided evidence.

31. Conclusion
Skill development through:
• Restructuring thoughts
• Modeling the process
Goal:
• To empower teens to take action
and improve school climate
Next steps:
• To pilot the game in partner high
schools

32. Development: Formative Research
• Descriptive statistics
• Demographic information
• Gameplay experience
• Pre-/post-survey analysis
• Beliefs
• Knowledge

33. • Lynn E. Fiellin, MD
• Kimberly Hieftje, PhD
• Tyra Pendergrass, MEM
• Alvin Tran, ScD, MPH
• Sneha Kannoth, MPH
• p2P interns: Maddy Yaggi
+ Ishani Mehta
• Ben Sawyer, DigitalMill
● Matt Kucic
● Josh Brannon
● Brooke Morrill, PhD
● Marc A. Brackett, PhD
● Jessica Hoffman, PhD
● Julie McGarry, MA and YCEI team
● Josh Hendryx
● Mike V
● Mike Lee
Thank you

34. @play2PREVENT
@yalehealthgames
@SchellGames
http://play2prevent.org
http://games.yale.edu
https://www.schellgames.com/
@play2PREVENT
@yalehealthgames
@play2PREVENT
@yalehealthgames
@SchellGames
Stay Connected
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35. Questions