Koers Control
Discovering yourself in highschool
Decision making is an integral part of a person’s life. One decision that has a large influence is the decision of what to do after high school. Most of us continue with a new education track at a higher level. Deciding which specific study track is the right one is not easy. In the Netherlands, universities and higher vocational & professional schools have a combined drop-out of 35% in the first year. This drop-out has financial repercussions for not just the student involved, but the Dutch government as well. The most common reason for quitting or switching a chosen study track is ‘having chosen the wrong study’.
The game is developed on behalf of Be Involved, a company specialized in educational board games. A game offers the opportunity for hands-on experiential learning, the purest form of learning. Besides this, a game is a more motivating and effective way of dealing with a complicated problem.
Decreasing the drop-out is done by improving the match between study and student. A good study- student match is found when the high school student puts more time in their study choice preparation. High school students receive plenty of preparation, but not the right kind of preparation.
Koers Control is a team-based physical building game, in which the players form teams of 5 to 6 members, each member playing a single archetype. The goal of the game is build a boat out of DUPLO building bricks, with a high as possible score, within a time limit of 45 minutes. Each archetype has its own sub-goal, rules and materials.
When the game is finished and the boats are scored, the player reflects on his experience in the game by means of the supplied reflection book. The archetype’s core qualities are linked to actions in- game, which are described in the book. The player creates an overview of whether the archetype’s core qualities apply to his personality. This book serves as the link between the played game and the next game session. Most importantly, this book explains to the student how the core qualities are applied to the study choice.
Koers Control has been tested in various forms with 78 high school students and 22 university students. The game is surprisingly fun and challenging as well as different each time played. The players experience the positive aspects of the core qualities, as well as their pitfalls, but using the core qualities in regard to the study choice is difficult for the majority of players.
Sander Oude Veldhuis
M.H. Sonneveld, N.J.H. Vegt, G. Meijer
master thesis, June 2014
