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The current economy is largely linear and this approach has a high cost from an economic, social and environmental point of view. Europe is working on the transition towards circular economy (CE) that  represents a systemic shift that generates economic opportunities, providing environmental and social benefits. [1] But, can the CE key concepts be successfully introduced in secondary schools? Transferring these ideas is an important task to prepare future generations for the challenges of the raw material sector.
An educational game, eco-CEO™, focused on CE, was developed by an European Project called “SmartPlaCE@Schools - Serious game Platform for education on Circular Economy in highschools”, funded by the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT RawMaterials). In fact, in the recent years, gamification has become an emerging trend in many sectors, including education thanks to its perceived potential to make learning more motivating and engaging. [2]
Eco-CEO™ is an interactive game aiminig to increase awareness and transferring knowledge about CE strategies and circular business models in a hands on and fun way. During the game, players act as CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of a company producing electronic goods, such as microchips, smartphones and e-bikes. They are asked to make decisions on resource management, production processes and revenue models to apply. By combining different investments, they can improve the performance and profitability of their company. The game shows the impact of linear and circular business strategies on the performance of a company and its resilience against external events such as policy measures, market disruptions and availability of resources. It teaches students about the relevance and the opportunities of circular strategies such as recycling, take-back systems, reuse and repair activities and product-service systems.
Moreover, the game fosters discussion about sustainable entrepreneurship, consumption patterns, resource scarcity and waste management and provides a clear link to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the EU Circular Economy Action Plan [3].
To foster the link of these topics with the official school curricula, a digital platform was also realized [4] to complete the game with a range of learning material. The latter covers a multitude of fields like economy, geology, chemistry, technology, environment, etc. In conclusion, Eco-CEO may be a useful tool for making young people aware of the complexity and interrelation of economy with environmental sustainability issues.

Keywords: Gamification, Circular Economy, raw materials, recycling, secondary school, cross-curricular learning.

References:

[1] https://www.government.nt/topics/circular-economy/from-a-linear-to a-circular-economy
[2] Caponetto et al In 8th European Conference on Games Based Learning (pp.50–57),2014
[3] https: //www.globalgoals.org/
[4] https://ecoceo.vito.be/en