STOP DISASTERS: SERIOUS GAMES WITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN RIO DE JANEIRO

This article describes a research on seriou games to raise awareness of risky situations endangering the children of Rio de Janeiro. In recent years - specially in the summer of 2011 - heavy rains hit the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, resulting in floods and landslides that killed hundreds of people and caused economic losses estimated at one billion dollars, it was the largest natural disaster in the history of Brazil. This major event triggered a lot of actions based on Hyogo framework in order to prepare the population for emergencies and to create a culture to deal with risky situations involving children given that this is a very important issue. In this research we invited children aged 10 to 13 years old, residents of the city of Rio de Janeiro, to play the educational game called 'Stop Disasters', which was developed by the UN in order to create a safety culture related to emergency preparedness. To verify if the game really improves the awareness of risky situations, the experiment was conducted with two groups: experimental and control. The experimental group used the 'Stop Disaster' game, while the control group did not. The latter answered a questionnaire before playing the game, and after that, answered another one with some questions that had been previously asked. They were also able to contribute with their opinions concerning issues such as game play, the missions, and game scenarios. The control group answered the same questionnaires, but without the questions about the game. The results show that serious games are able to develop children's skills to deal with emergency situations, and that their use should be improved to create and develop a safety culture for emergencies.