Change students’ mobility habits towards sustainable mobility through gamification

Keywords: sustainalbe development, sustainable mobility, education, students, youth
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

With the increasing mobility of modern society, in addition to the many positive effects of transport on society and the economy, its negative effects on space, the environment, health and quality of life are becoming increasingly prominent. For this reason, more and more attention is being paid to sustainable mobility, which aims to cover distances using sustainable modes of transport. Special attention should be paid to educating young people about sustainable mobility, because only effective and integrated education and training can change the current mobility habits of young people, who today are largely dependent on cars. In 2019-2021, we implemented the Let's Walk project to promote sustainable mobility in Slovenia among youth, which involved 63,698 students from 314 elementary schools. The project aimed to change the daily habits of young people on their way to and from school through gamification elements and targeted and integrated education and training activities. In this paper, we present some of the key findings from a survey we conducted among elementary school students. The results of the largest survey ever conducted in Slovenia about daily transportation habits of students show that children and youth change their otherwise quite motorised transportation habits when encouraged to do so by teachers and other stakeholders and elements of the educational system. Although the activities to promote sustainable mobility among young people to achieve sustainable development goals have been developed for Slovenian schools, they can easily be adapted and transferred to any other educational system and level of education.