Greenness challenge: a game based learning approach for sustainable analytical chemistry education

The teaching of green analytical chemistry helps pharmacy professionals to develop sustainable practices through responsible decision-making. The study demonstrates a game-based learning (GBL) intervention that teaches students about pictogram-based greenness assessment tools through NEMI, AGP and GAPI training. The research used a quasi-experimental design to conduct pre-test and post-test assessments of 18 pharmacy students from both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The teaching intervention used three organized classroom games. Before the activity, students received a short theoretical orientation which provided reference materials that explained evaluation criteria and color coding and pictogram interpretation. The pre-test and post-test results revealed performance improvements which included advancements in students’ ability to interpret pictograms and conduct analytical reasoning and suggest greener method changes. The students provided very positive feedback strongly agreeing the activities helped them better conceptual understanding and become more skilled at interpreting green metrics. According to student feed-back survey, the students preferred GBL over traditional educational methods and all the games gave engaging learning experience. Preliminary findings from this exploratory study suggest that pictogram-based game activities can help translate abstract sustainability metrics into interactive learning experiences, potentially supporting the development of conceptual understanding, pictogram interpretation, and analytical reasoning related to green metrics among small student cohorts.