Project introduction and background information
Students participating in challenge-based courses face uncertainty and ambiguity when dealing with complex challenges. The ambiguous processes and situations can evoke negative emotions, such as frustration and anxiety in some individuals, depending on how students perceive ambiguity and uncertainty. Negative perception of ambiguity can be reversed by discussing uncertainties and ambiguities. Hearing from peers that they are also lost and do not know what should happen next can normalise the ambiguous situations.
Objective and expected outcomes
The game is created to initiate discussion among student teams on issues that often happen in challenge-based courses. The discussion is guided by problem and solution cards, which are created based on literature and research. During the game, students draw a problem card, and every team member chooses a solution card they find appropriate for the given problem. The goal is to explain why they think that solution should work, whether it is based on their experience or preferred behaviour. After everyone explained their solutions, the team chose together one card that should work best for the team as a whole.
Players can create new problem and solution cards, and discuss their specific issues and create a team strategy to deal with these.
The expected outcome is that students get to know each other's perspectives and experiences, which can normalise ambiguous situations. Furthermore, students can better learn from each other different coping mechanisms.
Results and learnings
The final version of the card game needs to be evaluated.
Recommendations
Print the cards and the game description based on the instructions in the pdf file. Introduce the game as a team reflection and discussion session on issues that can happen during complex projects. Explain that the discussion is a very important aspect of the reflection, and ask students to explain why they think a certain solution card is the best solution to the given problem, sharing their experiences and thoughts.
After five rounds, in the final round, the students should come up with better solutions to the already presented problems, which could also be implemented by the team itself.