Designing for Ideological Flexibility: Tracking Perspective Shifts in an Educational IDN

This study investigates how interactive digital narratives (IDNs) can foster systems thinking and ideological flexibility in secondary learners by engaging them with ideologically diverse stakeholder perspectives. Grounded in the Context–Learning–Game (CLG) framework, the intervention integrates Emily Short’s Track Switching Choice structure and a non-playable character (NPC) functioning as a more-knowledgeable other (MKO) to scaffold learner engagement while exploring a complexity representation tool called Transformation Maps. Set within a simulated organizational debate on artificial intelligence, the narrative prompts learners to explore and synthesize viewpoints from three stakeholders. Behavioral data from gameplay logs, including perspective-switching frequency, time-on-task, and MKO interactions, were analyzed as indicators of ideological flexibility. Results show that most learners reconsidered their initial positions, with a significant number adopting more moderate viewpoints. Learners who switched perspectives spent more time in the experience, and MKO engagement strongly predicted final viewpoint change. A specific narrative moment, tagged Dhwani8, emerged as a cognitive inflection point associated with epistemic shift. These findings suggest that well-designed IDNs can reduce cognitive overload, support ideological exploration, and serve as analytic instruments for measuring learning behavior and epistemic development in complex decision-making contexts.