Playfully Exploring Climate Education and Policy in the Urban Setting of Linz, Upper Austria

The ECOPOLIS project aims to explore how communication between political representatives and the audience of 14–16- year-olds can be facilitated by an online platform that combines both game-based educational scenarios and opinion-voicing functionality. The ECOPOLIS platform features interactive content that can be readily used in a classroom setting, promoting a better understanding of the scientific issues behind climate change, but it can also provide information about current and future climate policy in the local political community. Additionally, general information about the target audience such as their knowledge about political processes, climate-related science and general attitudes can be collected via integrated quizzes and questionnaires. An upcoming evaluation of the platform in multiple schools will determine both the effectiveness of the current approach and weaknesses that still need to be addressed.