Context and Opportunity

An invitation to contribute to the Education Sciences Special Issue on Sustainability of Digital Game-Based Learning was extended following the publication of the article p5.quadrille.js: p5.js quadrille library in SoftwareX 1.

The Special Issue, guest edited by Dr. Panagiotis Fotaris, focuses on sustainable strategies for digital game-based learning. The submission deadline is 30 June 2025. This presents a timely opportunity to further explore and formalize the methodological foundations of sustainable educational game design—especially in settings shaped by limited resources, evolving roles, and long-term scalability goals.

Hypothesis

Research Question: How can game jams for sustainable game-based learning—rooted in self-maintainability, dynamic role transitions, and low-carbon adaptability—enhance computational thinking skills 2 while ensuring long-term scalability across diverse educational contexts?

The sustainability framework consists of three key pillars:

  1. Community-Driven Growth (Social Sustainability)
    • Promotes role transitions from learner to developer and mentor.
    • Engages contributors through game jams, workshops, and conferences.
    • Builds a self-sustaining network, minimizing reliance on external funding.
  2. Collaborative & Active Learning (Economic Sustainability)
    • Develops versatile game-based learning tools applicable across disciplines.
    • Integrates board games and digital tools into formal and informal education settings.
    • Fosters interdisciplinary collaborations to refine and enhance learning methodologies.
  3. Long-Term Impact (Environmental Sustainability)
    • Ensures the continuous refinement of p5.quadrille.js through iterative feedback loops.
    • Strengthens institutional adoption of game-based learning frameworks.
    • Incorporates low-carbon AI solutions (e.g., DeepSeek) for adaptive, energy-efficient learning.
    • Promotes hybrid learning models (virtual + in-person) to reduce environmental impact.

By integrating dynamic roles, self-sustainability, and low-carbon adaptability, this framework ensures scalability, resilience, and long-term impact in game-based learning.

References

  1. Charalambos, J. P. (2024). p5.quadrille.js: P5.js quadrille library. SoftwareX, 27, 101838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2024.101838. ↩︎

  2. Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33–35. https://doi.org/10.1145/1111874.1118215. ↩︎