Searching for the Golden Thread: Game-based Learning for Awareness of Gender Equity

Abstract

Although gender equity has improved across many domains during the 21st century, including higher education, STEM programmes still lag behind. Moreover, we see vertical segregation persisting in working life, with pathways to senior positions remaining unequal across sectors and occupations. This is the underlying problem that this study addresses through the use of an educational game called The Golden Thread. The study explores how an educational game experience can engage students and enourage reflection on women’s barriers and unequal pathways to senior positions. The Golden Thread builds on the classic Indian game ‘Snakes and Ladders’, applied in a contemporary work life setting. It combines a physical board game format (with pieces, tokens, and play money) with instructions delivered through an online virtual game board. Kolb's experiential learning theory was used as a theoretical framework in both the game design and the game evaluation. In a first evaluation, interview and observation data were gathered, during and after, two gaming sessions with students from different master's programmes in Engineering who are also enrolled in a management course. Participation was voluntary and anonymised, with the data analysed using an inductive-deductive thematic approach. Findings show that The Golden Thread generated high energy and sparked meaningful discussions among students. Fruitful topics of conversation included the contradiction between career and family, where some groups perceived an unfair difference between how women and men were treated in the game. Students also identified examples of both gender and age discrimination. The game format fitted well within the Active Learning Classroom environment, where the room layout supported both the hybrid game format and the team-based discussions. Students and the teacher also identified some practical improvements to the game design and the facilitation of the game session. The teacher used insights from the game session to formulate an exam question, indicating the game’s relevance for the course. Future research should explore how the game can be adapted to other contexts, including how students relate the gameplay to different workplace norms and organisational cultures, for example in Scandinavia and the UK.