Enhancing flood disaster education for children through gamified learning: development and evaluation of a web-based serious game

The use of gamification or serious games to deliver disaster education to children can be considered as an innovative teaching and learning model. However, traditional disaster education practices heavily rely on teacher-centered approaches, where knowledge is primarily transmitted through lectures or predefined expertise. Similarly, most serious games for disaster education are either limited to board games or fail to provide comprehensive learning experience. Against this backdrop, this study developed a web-based serious game to enhance flood disaster education. Two testing iterations and one demonstration session were conducted with children and youth, incorporating pre- and post-game assessments of flood-related knowledge. The target group consisted of 51 children aged 6-12 years. Comparison of pre- and post-test results showed that over 86% of participated children demonstrated an increase in flood-related knowledge after playing the serious game. The study findings demonstrated that serious games can be more effective: (a) when they are designed as part of a broader problem-based learning exercise that can be seamlessly integrated into the school curriculum; and (b) when they prioritize constructive and experiential pedagogical approaches, encouraging creative imagination, exploration, and active knowledge construction rather than relying solely on command- and instruction-based approaches. Accordingly, education and disaster management policies should consider formally integrating web-based serious games into school curricula and preparedness programs as a scalable, participatory, and evidence-based tool to strengthen disaster awareness and resilience among children.