GiocoArgentiera: playful and unconventional guidebook designed by children for children

Can playing be used as a tool to effectively involve children in educational tourism experiences (school trips and educational family trips), increasing their knowledge and awareness of the place – and the natural... [ view full abstract ]

Can playing be used as a tool to effectively involve children in educational tourism experiences (school trips and educational family trips), increasing their knowledge and awareness of the place – and the natural surroundings – they are visiting and their sense of responsibility towards it?

With this question in mind, Tamalacà – a multidisciplinary action-research group of the Department of Architecture, Design and Planning of the University of Sassari – and the primary school of Monte Rosello neighbourhood of the city of Sassari have conceived, designed and developed “GiocArgentiera”: a playful, unconventional Argentiera guidebook, based on an interactive narrative structure [Argentiera is a historic mining site in North West of Sardinia Region, near the city of Sassari].

“GiocArgenitera” is a guidebook designed by children for children: the project recognises the importance of fostering the relationship between schools and the cultural and natural heritage and aims to promote a novel, playful and exciting visit experience of Argentiera mining site (and of the other mining site of the “Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia”), both for children and their families.

In the first part of the paper, we illustrate how playing can be used to involve children and their families in educational tourism experiences, also providing some examples of practical experiences where gameplay, serious game and storytelling are used to enhance the visitor experience. We concentrate mainly on location-based games which take visitors on (individual or collective) interactive walks through the place being visited, creating playful interactions between the visitor and the tourist destination.

In the second part of the paper, we describe in detail the “GiocArgentiera” project, with particular reference to: i) the process of children’s involvement in the game design phase; ii) the narrative structure of the game; and iii) the assessment of the process (efficiency and effectiveness over traditional learning methods in terms of developing social interaction and understanding and remembering historical and environmental facts).

Finally, we illustrate the potential (and some limitations) of interactive gameplay to effectively involve visitors (not only children and families) in educational local tourism experiences and describe our ongoing action-research projects.