eKinomy: Designing a Serious Game to Promote Economic Decision-Making Skills from Elementary Level

Serious games are designed to provide purposeful and engaging learning experiences, fostering knowledge acquisition and skills development. They hold the potential to simplify complex theories and concepts, making them easily comprehensible for learners. While the versatility and effectiveness of serious games provide immersive experiences in complex subject matter areas, such as STEM subjects, healthcare, environment science, etc., the integration of serious games into K-12 economic education, particularly for enhancing decision-making skills, remains limited. This paper proposes a work-in-progress role-play simulation serious game design with the theme of international trade designed for grades 5–8 to enact roles of producers, importers, and exporters as well as develop economic decision-making strategies. The paper begins by discussing the necessity of serious games in K-12 economic education. Next, the paper elucidates the design process employed in creating the serious game “eKinomy” and embedding the simulation and role-play elements into it. We outline the steps taken to ensure that the game aligns with the learning objectives of economic education while providing an engaging and immersive experience for learners.