Know Before You Throw
Design Challenge
Athletic events produce a large amount of waste that is not properly disposed of. This can lead to fewer items actually being recycled in the long run.
Through a semester-long design studio course, my design team and I developed a game and additional resources to educate learners about recycling contamination and the risks of "wish-cycling".
Context and Learners
My design team chose to design a learning experience for people to engage in while tailgating before a Boston College football game.
Design Solution
The design team developed a series of activities aimed at helping learners understand the recycling process, improve their recycling practices, and foster motivation for recycling and learning about recycling. These were designed for both football and hockey games, though hockey was the more complete version.
Learning Goals
Our learning goals were:
Learners will be able to properly sort waste to maximize environmental sustainability
Learners will be more motivated to recycle and want to learn more about the recycling process
Design Components
Physically Controlled Video Game
The core activity in this design solution was a physical sorting game that controlled a video game. Learners sorted items that reflected commonly misidentified trash and recycling, and the video game provided audio and visual feedback.
Engaging learners in sorting trash was influenced by theories of embodied cognition and Self Determination Theory. By using their bodies to interact with the items that represent common recycling misconceptions, players can connect their in-game decision-making process to recycling in their daily lives. Giving learners autonomy over their actions in the game sustained engagement through the duration of the game.
Flip Boards
The flip board was an interactive informational component. This highlighted the transformational possibilities of recyclable materials.
By illustrating to learners the results of recycling carefully, learners will understand the direct influence of their choices on recycling outcomes. This may motivate continued recycling behavior.
Informational Video
This video was an informational component that provided further transparency about the recycling process. Learners expressed an interest in knowing more about what happens after placing an object in a recycling bin - we believed more transparency in this process would foster curiosity and a desire to learn more.
Posters
Posters were placed near recycling bins around the athletic facility we were located in for testing. These posters provided quick facts about recycling to pique learners' curiosity so they would come to engage in our learning activities. These were also intended to promote recycling as a team-supported community norm.
Ideation
What guided our design process?
Research on recycling motivation as well as learning theories influenced our design decisions, including the following guiding concepts:
Positive Emotions
People are motivated to recycle when they are made to feel good about their choices. Feelings of guilt and shame around recycling can be discouraging.
For our design, it was important that we emphasize positive feedback.
Empowering Learners
By sharing knowledge with tools, learners can achieve much more than they would be without the tools or what the tools bring.
The game gave learners the opportunity to explore recycling and reflect on their own practices and engagement. We also provided them with the knowledge and resources to do this individually.
Tailgaters were presented with this image 
Sample of Data collected Transformational Possibilities
Informing people about what recycled materials can turn into when properly recycled motivates recycling behavior.
This gave us some ideas about strategies we could use to motivate behavior change.
Self Determination Theory
People feel motivated to take action when they think their actions will have an effect on outcomes.
As learners engage in this experience, they are given autonomy to act and information about the impact of their choices. This supports learner engagement during the experience.
Belonging to a Community
Knowing that recycling is a community norm motivates people to take part. In the context of sporting events, knowing that the team supports recycling can also motivate fans to recycle as well.
Embodied Cognition
Embodied cognition tells us that a body's interaction with its environment plays a fundamental role in the learning process.
We take advantage of this by replicating the physical act of throwing away trash as the core action of our game.
Learning About Learners
Interviewing attendees of a tailgate on BC's campus provided information about what our target learners knew about recycling in general, common misconceptions, and waste disposal in the context of sporting events.
Tailgaters were presented with an image (seen to the left) and asked to circle what they thought was recyclable.
We learned that:
Most people had misconceptions about recycling
Items most commonly misidentified as recyclable included solo cups, bottle caps, and plastic bags
People weren't fully aware of where and how to recycle at sporting events
This provided us with some insight into the misconceptions that needed to be corrected to address our learning goals.
Learning About Context
This opportunity to learn about our learners also gave us a chance to explore the context. Being immersed in the setting, and talking with our target learners gave us insights that guided our initial ideation process.
Learners were expecting to enjoy themselves in this environment and there was a tendency towards competition.
To meet this expectation, we designed a game that would be fun, and that offered opportunities to compete with others.
Design Process
Iteration 1
Design
Our first iteration was designed as a simple sorting game.
Learners were given a set of mixed trash and recyclable items. These items reflected objects that were commonly misidentified when we interviewed target learners.
Learners sorted these items into recycling or trash bins. Having learners go through the physical act of "throwing away" objects as they might in their day-to-day lives was influenced by embodied cognition.
We gave testers 30 seconds to correctly sort their items into the trash or recycling bins. This was an effort to make the experience engaging for learners by addressing a desire for competition.
After learners sorted their items, we gave them individual verbal feedback on their performance, and directly addressed any misconceptions they had.
Testing, Goals, and Takeaways:
We tested our first iteration in an academic building on Boston College's campus with students. From our observations of how learners interacted with our design and their responses to a survey they completed after participating, we learned that:
Learners felt pressure to "get it right". When they weren't sure of the correct answer they were hesitant to sort the item into either of the bins. This was especially the case when they were playing by themselves.
The misconceptions of recycling rules were similar to what we noticed in our stakeholder interviews as well. This helped us to understand what types of items we should include in our game moving forward.
Learners wanted immediate feedback. Learners initially would pause after each item was sorted to wait for a response, or they would look at one of the facilitators to see their reactions.
Iteration 2
Design
In our second iteration, we turned the sorting game into a video-enhanced sorting game that included more realistic elements (like goalposts and real trash) to better reflect the setting.
We believed an experience that more closely resembled how we expect learners to use what they've learned would support embodied cognition and transfer of learning to their everyday lives.
Video Game
We added features that would provide more timely feedback in response to learners' interactions with the first prototype.
Now, feedback was provided on screen as soon as they threw an object to trash or recycling. This feedback was left on the screen for learners to reference and reflect on after playing the game.
Informational Components
We also developed stronger informational components including informational posters and a set of web resources.
This would allow learners to easily access information that would reinforce what they learn through participating in the game, and help sustain their learning beyond these initial experiences.
Testing, Goals, and Takeaways:
We tested our second iteration at a tailgate before a Friday evening football game with roughly 20 individuals. We hoped to learn:
If the video game provides enough feedback to learners
If using real trash helps learners connect their in-game actions with their daily practices
If people were engaging with, and learning from the information components we provided them?
Through testing the design with our target learners we learned:
People enjoyed interacting with and receiving feedback from the video game element. However, the setup of the environment made the video game less audible and visible than we had hoped. We wondered if this was not the case learner engagement would have been better supported.
Learners connected their in-game actions with their day-to-day recycling behaviors. As learners made decisions about how to sort items, they consistently referenced how they "usually" treat those items.
Text-based information components were not as appealing as we hoped. Learners didn't engage regularly with the posters that we had set up around our learning environment, and the data from the link tree indicated that people weren't accessing the web resources after engaging in the initial learning experience.
In addition to what we hoped to learn from testing, it became clear that:
Learners preferred to participate in groups. Learners frequently approached us in groups and consulted with each other as they participated. Moving forward, we want to continue to support learners participating in groups.
It is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the context. We were not fully prepared for the differences in context between our first round of testing and this round. Our target audience wasn't anticipating taking part in a learning experience, and that made recruiting testers difficult.
Iteration 3
Context
Our final iteration was designed for a Boston College hockey game. We worked with Boston College Athletics to set up a space inside the arena that was inviting for learners. This setting was more open and our location was more central to where attendees were located than in our previous iteration.
The core components of the video-enhanced sports-based game stayed the same and we transformed them to fit the setting of a hockey game. Instead of throwing trash through football goalposts, learners would be shooting trash into hockey goals.
Design
Changes were made to the structure of the game to make it easier for learners to play including making the objects easier to throw and bringing the trash bin goals closer. These changes allowed learners to focus on the learning, rather than trying to throw items correctly.
Additionally, we used a tv located right behind the table to make the audio feedback louder and the visual feedback closer. This helped learners notice the feedback they received more frequently.
Additionally, we placed posters around the arena near recycling bins with fun facts and a challenge to test their recycling knowledge to encourage people to find us and participate in our learning experience.
We created an interactive board that shows the transformational possibilities of recycled items and a video to illustrate the recycling process.
This better reflected our research into how to motivate recycling behaviors and our testing results that people didn't engage with static posters.
Testing and Results:
We tested our third iteration at a Boston College hockey game. This game took place on a Friday evening, and about 50 learners participated. After participating in the game, learners were asked to fill out a short survey to gather feedback and assess their recycling understanding.
Going into testing, we had a few questions we were hoping to answer.
Does changing where the video screen is located help learners notice and react to the automated feedback?
What are learners learning after participating in our game?
How are learners' understandings of recycling changing?
Through testing, we learned:
Having the screens closer helped learners to notice and take in feedback. Learners paid more attention to the screen and reacted more frequently to the sound and visual cues from the video game compared to the prior iteration.
Learners came in with general and vague ideas about recycling but left with more specific knowledge. As people reflected on what surprised them, they highlighted how they should deal with specific items. (ex: I should throw my pizza boxes in the trash, plastic cups shouldn’t be recycled, plastic bottle caps can’t be recycled, etc.)
Learners need prior knowledge about recycling for this experience to be meaningful. This experience was most effective when learners had misconceptions that led to surprise and cared about the corrective feedback that followed.
Critiques and Moving Forward
Critiques
Inviting Learners
What went well: One of the things we did really well was designing a learning experience that was inviting for learners. The video-enhanced game drew people in and by our third iteration, we had a sense of who would be attracted to our experience and how to bring them in.
What could be stronger: Though inviting learners in was one of our strengths, this did not apply to all aspects of the learning experience. While the game was inviting, the other pieces of the experience (videos, interactive board, link tree) did not garner as much attention. We hadn't quite figured out how to invite learners in this context to engage with those pieces.
Mental Model Building
What went well: This design helped to support our learners in their mental model building. We based this design on our knowledge of our learners and their current misconceptions of recycling. We were directly addressing those misconceptions that learners already had in their mental models about what was and was not recyclable to help them adjust and refine their conceptions of recycling.
What could be stronger: We hadn't taken into consideration the wide range of learners who would be interested in playing this game, and as a result, we didn't design for variation in learners' mental models. We had planned for learners who had enough prior knowledge to have misconceptions, but learners who were unfamiliar with recycling concepts needed more support for this learning experience to connect to their current mental models.
Learning Objectives
What went well: One of the strengths of this design was that we did a good job breaking down our first learning objective ( "Learners will be able to properly sort waste to maximize environmental sustainability") into specific misconceptions to be addressed and the actions that would indicate successfully meeting this objective. Another strength was frequently revisiting our learning objectives. Keeping our primary learning objective in mind helped us to initially focus our design around that objective.
What could be stronger: We started with a set of three objectives that addressed both how people are recycling and why people are recycling. In the initial stages of design, however, we focused on motivating people to recycle correctly. The idea of motivating people to recycle because of their personal impact on the environment was overlooked. As a result, this learning objective was not addressed as strongly as the first two.
Design Process
What went well: The data and feedback we received from learners during testing directly influenced the changes we made to the design in the following iterations. Additionally, we did a good job at developing an understanding of who our learners were and what they needed in order to learn in the context we were designing for.
What could be stronger: As the first design challenge we took on we made the mistake of getting too attached to a design idea too early in the ideation process. Before taking the time to thoroughly understand the problem, we started to focus on a single solution. While we made the solution work for us, there were likely opportunities and ideas that we missed as a result. Documenting our decisions and rationale to communicate with each other as a design team could have been stronger as well.
Next Steps
This learning experience was designed for a wide range of learners but really found a home with younger learners in our final round of testing. Revising the design to better support young learners who don't have as deep prior knowledge of recycling would be an important step in designing for a more targeted audience.
This experience was designed as a single event in one location on Boston College's campus. One way we could design to sustain engagement is by scaling up and turning this into a recurring event with consistent messaging across campus.
What I Learned
A key aspect of designing for learners and learning is truly developing an understanding of the learners: their wants, needs, interests and how they behave within the context. For this project, we continued to return to this and realized we didn't know enough. We had an idea of what our learners enjoyed and their interests; however, those changed depending on the context.
When designing for learning, the learning objectives should be constantly revisited. This ensures that decisions we make are directly connected to our learning objectives, and are meaningful.
Evaluation of design needs to be intentional and well-planned. This was realized in the middle of this project. We went into testing our second iteration without a clear idea of what we were aiming to learn and what data to collect. By the time we got to our third iteration, we planned a little better for this. Going through the process of synthesizing our data and observations really highlighted how important it was to explicitly plan what kind of data is being collected and why.
I've developed a better understanding of how important it is to record and track each decision made in the design process, and the rationale for those choices, especially when working collaboratively.