Abuzaharen's Challenge: Building Sustainability Competencies Through Science-Fiction Narratives and Game-Based Learning

This paper presents a case study of "Abuzaharen," a science-fiction alien character woven through three sustainability-themed games used in two Monash University Masters units between 2021 and 2024. The authors argue that narrative framing can increase engagement with complex sustainability content and support the development of competencies aligned with education for sustainable development (ESD). The games, which include a card-matching activity, a hackathon-style innovation challenge judged by generative AI, and a systemic change game, were iterated seven times over the study period.

The most notable findings concern engagement and classroom dynamics. In fully online sessions, all students kept their cameras on, and every class "won" each game, which the authors cite as evidence of strong participation. The narrative appears to encourage students to take creative risks. Generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and DALL-E, were integrated as a live narrator and judge, and their unpredictability, such as a refusal to generate a secret target number, was reframed as a teaching moment about the limits of technology.

The authors conclude that the games support strategic, systems, and interpersonal competencies within a broader curriculum. However, the evidence base is largely qualitative, drawing on educator reflections, observations, and student feedback rather than formal measurement of learning outcomes, and the authors acknowledge that more rigorous evaluation is needed. Their findings are therefore best read as an exploratory account of design and implementation rather than a demonstration of causal impact. The paper also previews a planned extension into an urban futures unit, featuring a generative AI character, a time-travel narrative, and a live field tour, intended to build futures-thinking competency, though this component is described without empirical results.