Breaking the Silence: Design of a Social-Drama Gamified Toolkit for Sensitive Topics in Children's Sexuality Education

Abstract

In children's sexuality education, shame and cognitive load often lead children into expressive silence. Particularly within the Chinese cultural context, influenced by traditional concepts, direct discussion of sensitive topics often faces higher psychological barriers and social evaluation pressure, constituting significant implicit educational exclusion. To overcome these expression barriers within a specific cultural context, this study constructs a collaborative toolkit combining social drama and gamification mechanisms from the perspective of Human Factors and Ergonomics. The toolkit establishes a psychological safety distance through role-playing and achieves cognitive offloading using card scaffolding, aiming to lower participation thresholds in high-shame environments. The research team organized in-situ workshops for verification. Results indicate that children are more likely to engage in discussions and situational enactment under autonomous operation and role perspectives, although some core mechanisms still present understanding costs in early usage. This study demonstrates that designing low-friction interaction mechanisms adapted to cultural-psychological characteristics can effectively support inclusive education on sensitive topics.

Keywords: Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Social Drama, Gamified Learning, Card-based Toolkit, Situational Discussion, Design Research.

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1008013