Developing Primary School Teachers' Competencies in Using Games in Teaching Oriented Towards Education for Sustainable Development: An Empirical Study

This study aims to propose and verify the effectiveness of a training process for developing primary school teachers' competencies in using games in teaching oriented towards Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Employing a pedagogical experimental method with a "one-group pretest-posttest" design on 20 teachers at Luong The Vinh Primary School, data were collected through a 13-item measurement scale and statistically analyzed using SPSS software. The results indicate that the 4-stage intervention program, based on the principles of "Learning by Design" and "Peer Coaching", significantly increased the teachers' average overall competency score from 2.06 to 4.40 points, showing a highly statistically significant difference (Sig. = 0.000). A prominent contribution of this research is helping teachers thoroughly resolve time constraints and the fear of "running out of lesson time" by applying microgame design techniques. Concurrently, the study creates a profound cognitive shift: elevating teachers from the habit of being "passive users" to becoming true "experience creators." Thereby, teachers master the skill of transforming games into simulation spaces, naturally and effectively helping primary school students develop a sustainable consciousness and responsibility toward the environment and society.