Chanua
Chanua is a serious board game to engage young girls of a low-resource setting in Kenya in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
Research-through-design approach
10/2022 to 03/2023
Master's thesis project (individual)
Immersion in the local context to understand the socio-cultural norms, beliefs and lifestyle.
1.
school visits and observations in class
context mapping with generative methods
low-fidelity prototype testing
Field research
2.
Collaborative and iterative design iterations with both the users and stakeholders.
with the girls to ensure desirability and suitability
with the school teachers and Red Cross volunteers to create ownership
Co-creation
The board game is designed to use local resources: expertise and machinery from the Red Cross maker space, and materials found nearby.
3.
Local manufacturing
CHANUA is a Kiswahili word which, directly translated means enlighten. It implies elevating someone’s mental state to become curious about a certain topic.
Often associated to technological advancements, the word refers to someone going through a learning journey at the end of which they will master the knowledge and skills.
4.
I formalised my own method into a user-friendly toolkit – which combines game design approaches from the literature – for the Red Cross to help build local capacity.
screenshot of the filled toolkit with an example - low quality
Serious game design method
CHANUA is a fun game that engages young girls of the Lamu Island in STEM education. It mirrors real-life situations on the island and encourages critical thinking and scientific curiosity. The game promotes teamwork, builds knowledge
A final user test was conducted with girls from a local school to evaluate the feasibility, desirability and viability CHANUA. The game:
is made with local resources
is co-designed with all actors to fit into the socio-cultural context and must be facilitated by an adult
includes features from the girls' surroundings and game elements from popular games such as Ludo
is reproducible thanks to the ready-to-be-used serious game design method developed for the maker space
Evaluation:
Results:
5.
Solution delivery
and confidence, and sparks important discussions about girls in STEM. Finally, exposition to the game contributes to enhancing female community resilience.
Personal reflection
learn to conduct research-through-design
design with and for children from a different culture
conduct a multi-stakeholders project
dive into game design and create my own method
