Enhancing Undergraduate Education About Stakeholder Competition and Cooperation in Water Systems Using Game Theory

This project will serve the national interest by strengthening undergraduate STEM education through a game theory (GT)-based learning experience that fosters critical thinking, interdisciplinary reasoning, and multi-criteria decision-making about water resources management (MCDM-WRM), an issue of growing national and global importance. This IUSE Engaged Student Learning Level 1 project will introduce an evidence-based and student-centered approach to help undergraduate students analyze stakeholder competition and cooperation in water resources management. This project seeks to understand how GT–based learning experiences can enhance students' abilities to make informed decisions about stakeholder dynamics in water-resource management. GT offers a structured way to explore how individual decisions influence collective outcomes, helping students evaluate trade-offs, anticipate stakeholder actions, and cultivate actionable consensus. Expected outcomes include enhanced student decision-making, engaging learning opportunities for all students, and improved water literacy. The goals of the project are to: 1) design and implement GT-based learning resources to support undergraduate students' understanding of the strategic interactions between stakeholders and, thereby, enhance their MCDM-WRM, and 2) conduct discipline-based education research (DBER) to evaluate factors that influence undergraduate students' understanding of the strategic interactions between stakeholders and their MCDM-WRM within the context of GT-based learning. The project plans to include the design, implementation, and iterative refinement of the instructional module, embedded in a general education natural resources course. The research component of the project will use pre/post assessments, student artifacts, and interviews, and investigate: (1) how undergraduate students engage in MCDM-WRM involving multiple stakeholders; (2) which course- and student-level factors most influence this engagement; and (3) how instructional design can best support students in developing more effective MCDM-WRM skills. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.