Simulating Uncertainty: A LowTech Gamified Wildlife Management Exercise for Teaching Decision Making in Dynamic Ecological Systems

In-Person

Abstract

Wildlife management, like many other disciplines, requires decision making under uncertainty, where managers must balance ecological processes, limited resources, and competing stakeholder interests while responding to unpredictable environmental conditions. We present a low-tech, inquiry based simulation game designed to help undergraduate wildlife management students experience these challenges firsthand through the management of a declining mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) population in a multiuse landscape. In this dice based simulation, students act as wildlife managers who establish explicit management objectives, implement a limited number of actions per year, and respond to stochastic environmental conditions such as severe winters and variable juvenile survival. Population outcomes emerge probabilistically through rolling dice that represent environmental variability and management effectiveness, emphasizing the inherent uncertainty of real world management.

The activity is scaffolded by a pre-exercise lecture that integrates ecological theory, demographic drivers, density dependence, and logistical constraints, allowing students to apply prior knowledge in an active learning context. Throughout the simulation, students must negotiate tradeoffs among competing objectives, such as population growth, hunter satisfaction, and recreational access, reinforcing the role of stakeholder conflict in wildlife decision making. Learning outcomes focus on understanding resource limitations, delayed management effects, uncertainty in future conditions, and conflicting societal values.

This exercise draws on growing evidence that gamified learning can enhance student engagement, motivation, and learning outcomes when thoughtfully designed and instructor supported (Lampropoulos & Sidiropoulos, 2024; Ramírez Ruiz et al., 2024), while aligning with research demonstrating the effectiveness of low tech, inquiry based serious games in promoting critical thinking without reliance on digital infrastructure (Chen, 2025). By combining stochastic simulation with collaborative decision making, this activity offers a replicable, low cost instructional tool for preparing future wildlife professionals to manage complex socioecological systems.

  • Chen, C.-W. (2025). Low-tech serious games in higher education: Bridging the digital divide and enhancing student thinking and performance. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12, 111. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04341-2
  • Lampropoulos, G., & Sidiropoulos, A. (2024). Impact of gamification on students’ learning outcomes and academic performance: A longitudinal study comparing online, traditional, and gamified learning. Education Sciences, 14(4), 367. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14040367
  • Ramírez Ruiz, J. J., Vargas Sanchez, A. D., & Boude Figueredo, O. R. (2024). Impact of gamification on school engagement: A systematic review. Frontiers in Education, 9, 1466926. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1466926 

Presenters

Tayler LaSharr

Assistant Professor

Tayler LaSharr, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Wildland Resources Department in the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources. Tayler’s teaching is founded in applied, data-driven approaches that emphasize real-world problem solving. She is particularly interested in helping students connect ecological theory to management and conservation decision-making. She often incorporates her own research into her teaching to develop relevant, applied exercises that encourage students to think critically about real-world wildlife management challenges.

David Stoner

Assistant Professor of Extension

David Stoner is an Assistant Professor of Extension in the Department of Wildland Resources, housed within the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources. David specializes in human-wildlife conflicts in the Mountain West. He has conducted extensive applied research on the ecology and management of mammalian carnivores and ungulates throughout the Great Basin states. Dr. Stoner teaches Principles of Wildlife Management, a senior capstone course for Wildlife Biology majors, while also serving as Director of the Free-Roaming Equids and Ecosystem Sustainability Network (FREES), housed under Utah State University Extension in Logan, Utah.

Sunshine Brosi

Professor

Sunshine Brosi, PhD, is a Professor in the Wildland Resources Department and Director of the Masters of Natural Resources Program in the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources at USU’s Eastern Campus in Price, Utah. Sunshine has 20 years of teaching experience and focuses on incorporating high-impact practices into her both high-tech and low-tech Wildlife Ecology & Management courses. She has taught over 21 different courses over the past six years at USU. In her vast amounts of spare time, she enjoys fishing, hiking, adventure motorcycle camping, running, birding, and botanizing with her husband throughout the Intermountain West.