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Using Board Games to Teach Climate Policy: A Conversation with Dr. Minwoo Ahn

July 7, 2026
Avery Cline, Udall Center Student Communications and Marketing Assistant

"Everyone should play a role and should be able to understand others. I think this really brings the power of deliberation." — Minwoo Ahn

Quick take

Can a board game help people understand climate policy? According to former University of Arizona postdoctoral researcher and future assistant professor at the College of Charleston, Minwoo Ahn, the answer is, “Yes.” 

By combining interactive game design with policy research in the student-led creation of two educational boardgame prototypes – Thermopolis and Heatlandia –  Ahn creates innovative learning experiences that help participants explore complex environmental challenges, practice collaboration, and better understand how public policy decisions are made.

Why it matters

Climate and environmental issues often make productive conversations difficult. Ahn's board game approach creates a low-stakes environment where participants can engage with challenging topics, test ideas and work through policy discussions together.

The big picture

As a postdoctoral researcher with the Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) and the Heat Resilience Initiative at the University of Arizona, Ahn studies heat planning, governance and policy responses to both extreme heat and long-term heat challenges affecting communities in the US Southwest and beyond.

How games become learning tools

Rather than relying on lectures or traditional discussions, Ahn uses board games to:

  • Introduce public policy concepts through hands-on learning.
  • Encourage players to consider perspectives different from their own by taking on the role of another person.
  • Create opportunities for collaborative problem-solving.
  • Simulate real-world decision-making in a low-stakes environment.

What's inside the games?

The games are designed around three key components:

  • Social dilemmas that require balancing individual interests with community needs.
  • Collaboration and negotiation among players representing different stakeholder groups.
  • Dynamic policy scenarios that introduce new challenges and force players to adapt their strategies and decisions.

Student collaboration at the center

Ahn emphasizes that student researchers from the Udall Center's Mo's Policy Scholars Program played a major role in shaping the project. Students contributed ideas, tested concepts, refined game mechanics, and helped facilitate workshops, transforming research goals into an engaging educational experience.

Key challenge

One of the biggest hurdles was finding the right balance between complexity and enjoyability. The game needed to capture the reality of policy decision-making without becoming so complicated that it stopped being fun.

Lessons learned

The project highlighted the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. Bringing together students and researchers from different backgrounds strengthened both the educational experience and the final game design. Ahn also reflected on the importance of mentoring students through a creative research process that blended scholarship, education and engagement.

Looking ahead

This fall, Ahn will join the College of Charleston as an Assistant Professor, where he plans to continue using innovative teaching and research methods to engage communities in conversations about environmental and climate resilience challenges.

00;00;00 - 00;00;26
Minwoo Ahn
My name is Minwoo Ahn I'm a postdoctoral researcher at Climate Assessment for the Southwest, but also with the Heat Resilience Initiative. My last years' research has been focusing on heat planning, policy and governance. How can we be prepared and respond to extreme heat waves, but also chronic heat, we call chronic heat that it's so pervasive, especially in the US, Southwest, but also globally.

00;00;26 - 00;00;33
Avery Cline
Your work often focuses on the environmental policy and climate issues. So what inspired you to take those and turn it into a board game?

00;00;33 - 00;01;12
MA
It's really difficult to have a genuine dialog about public policy, and I think that value of using games is that everyone should play a role and should be able to understand others. I think this really brings the power of deliberation. So the game, in a very clean and controlled setting, you put aside your personal positions and you take the role of that person and then be able to communicate with that. So everyone can be in a very clean slate and then start having conversations.

00;01;13 - 00;01;19
AC
Yeah. Well, along with that, can you explain the concept of the game and then maybe a little bit about what the players experience while playing it.

00;01;20 - 00;02;04
MA
Yeah. So the concept of the game is that there are three components that's important for the game. And one is that I call "Social Dilemma." So, in typical public policy problem there is a private and public interest. The second thing I emphasize is the collaboration/interaction part. So how can you actually create a moment for collaboration through game components, through the game mechanics with different roles? And the third thing, obviously, I emphasize was there must be the realistic policy or programs. In the example of the card game, every turn, you turn the card and there is some new policy changes and everyone should be able to talk about those policy changes.

00;02;05 - 00;02;11
AC
Well, circling back a little bit here, how did the two Mo’s Policy Scholars that you mentored, how did they support this project?

00;02;12;22 - 00;02;59
MA
They not only supported, they, I would say they led the whole thing. Biggest leading point they have contributed is the creativity part. So, I've done... I've used games for research in different ways before I came to this role. But that does not mean that I have creativity. That's I think that's something that probably I'm lacking. And students were able to bring that creativity and spark their curiosity, and then sort of based on some of my instructions, they were able to create these beautiful, innovative games. And they were also able to facilitate the game that I think was a big experience for them, too.

00;03;00 - 00;03;05
AC
Were there any challenges that the three of you faced while designing or creating along the process of that?

00;03;05 - 00;03;35
MA
For sure. I mean, I think game building is about building up the complexity with layers, but there's always a trade off that if you make things too complex, mechanics doesn't work. But if you make it too simple, it's too easy for players and it can be bored. So I think we had a lot of brainstorming and sort of fixing the game and have the right incentive for individual, but also what is the public interest that is put forth in this game setting? So that has been one part.

00;03;35 - 00;03;44
AC
Kind of switching gears, what advice would you give to other researchers or maybe even students when they want to take that creative path in communicating the public policy issues?

00;03;44 - 00;04;20
MA
Really, just being open minded is... has been a really fruitful experience. Although as I said, I came from a very disciplinary background, but through my mentors and through the teachers I met in this university, I was able to open up myself and really being able to work with scholars from different disciplines. But I think that this path, interdisciplinary path, can be really fruitful if you are really sincere and committed about this issue.

00;04;20 - 00;04;27
AC
Now, how do you think... I know you talked a little bit about changing environments. How do you think you will take that with you to the College of Charleston in the fall?

00;04;27 - 00;04;51
MA
I think that a lot of sort of climate and environmental concerns are also there. So I'm really excited about bringing a lot of innovations that I've done here at the U of A to the College of Charleston. So that's been the most exciting, I think, part that I want to bring to the College of Charleston.

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