We are excited to announce that Sebastian Saldarriaga (MA student, Science Education, EDCP), has been accepted into the UBC Pop Culture Cluster’s first cohort of Critical Play Fellows!
The Critical Play Fellows comprise an interdisciplinary community of graduate students, faculty members, industry professionals, and independent designers for monthly programming that explores the intersections of digital and analog gaming cultures, pedagogy and critical theory. Each session will include a guest speaker from the field of game studies, game design, or community-engaged gaming practice, as well as a hands-on workshop led by a member of the local gaming community. Through these monthly gatherings, participants will engage deeply with questions around the politics of play, design ethics, decolonial mechanics, narrative interventions, and community-centered gaming. The seminar encourages both critical reflection and practical experimentation, offering a unique space to build connections between academic research, game design, and social justice work.
The Critical Play Lab officially launched this week with the Green College Seasons of Play roundtable on “Teaching Video Games in Catastrophic Times: Perils, Pleasures, and Possibilities” (livestreaming options available).
Sebastian Saldarriaga | 2025-26 Critical Play Fellow
I am a Biomedical Engineer and Master of Arts student in Science Education at UBC. My research explores how culturally grounded digital storytelling can support STEAM education by integrating game-based learning, serious games, and Indigenous pedagogies such as the First Peoples Principles of Learning. I work as a Pro-D Instructor, where I design and facilitate hands-on learning experiences that make STEAM content more accessible in classrooms through approaches such as game-based and project-based learning. I have also taught at both K–12 and university levels, applying active learning strategies such as project-based and problem-based learning to create engaging environments that foster creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. Alongside my thesis, I contribute to a research project developing a virtual reality environment to reduce stress in pediatric healthcare. Outside of research and teaching, I enjoy playing video games, as a fun fact, I am a big Star Wars fan, and my favorite board game is Dixit.