A case study of educational game design by kids and for kids

Baytak, Ahmet; Land, Susan M.

doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.853

Cited by 72 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…As expected, the improvement was more substantial for the college undergraduates than for the middle school students because they not only came with more experience but also spent more time on their games. Numerous other studies have examined learning of computational practices out-of-school (see also Akcaoglu & Kohler, 2014;Baytak & Land, 2010;Carbonaro, Szafron, Cutumisu, & Schaeffer, 2010;Denner et al, 2012;Esper, Foster, & Grisowld, 2013;Fajdo, Hallman, Harris, & Black, 2009;Holbert & Wilensky, 2014;Howland & Good 2015;Pelletier, Burns, & Buckingham, 2010;Robertson, 2012;Robertson & Howells, 2008;Werner, Denner, Campe, & Kawamato, 2012).…”

Section: Personal Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Leading the way are studies where students have designed educational software games or simulations that are connected or even integrated into the curriculum in their schools (Baytak & Land, 2010;Hwang, Hung, & Chen, 2014;Kafai, 1995;Khalili, Sheridan, Williams, Clark, & Stegman, 2011;Schanzer, Fisler, Krishnamurthi, & Feilman, 2015;Vattel & Riconscente, 2012). Returning for a moment to the original game-making project, fourthgrade students not only programmed games but explicitly focused these on teaching fractions to younger students in their school-a topic that they also covered in their math class at the very same time (Kafai, 1995).…”

Section: Personal Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Constructionist Gaming: Understanding the Benefits of Making Games for Learning

Kafai

Burke

2015

Educational Psychologist

259

170

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There has been considerable interest in examining the educational potential of playing video games. One crucial element, however, has traditionally been left out of these discussionsnamely, children's learning through making their own games. In this article, we review and synthesize 55 studies from the last decade on making games and learning. We found that the majority of studies focused on teaching coding and academic content through game making, and that few studies explicitly examined the roles of collaboration and identity in the game making process. We argue that future discussions of serious gaming ought to be more inclusive of constructionist approaches to realize the full potential of serious gaming. Making games, we contend, not only more genuinely introduces children to a range of technical skills but also better connects them to each other, addressing the persistent issues of access and diversity present in traditional digital gaming cultures.

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Section: Personal Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Personal Dimensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructionist Gaming: Understanding the Benefits of Making Games for Learning

Kafai

Burke

2015

Educational Psychologist

259

170

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“…Few studies examined the effects of computer game development as a pedagogical activity (Owston, Wideman, Ronda & Brown, 2009), and there is little evidence of the role of game design and programming in digital literacy development (e.g., Caperton, 2012. Moreover, studies that targeted children are scarce (e.g., Baytak & Land, 2010).…”

Section: Learning How To Program By Authoring Computer Gamesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This focus originates from the bulk of construc-tionist research which has been conducted using Logo or Scratch to teach primary school students about mathematics (e.g., Kafai, 2012), programming and science (e.g. Baytak & Land, 2010) or how to create multimedia artifacts (e.g., Kafai & Peppler, 2011).…”

Section: Constructionism As a Framework For Teaching Programmingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there are few studies which targeted primary school students (e.g., Baytak & Land, 2010). Also, few studies examined whether the authoring of computer games increases students' understanding of computer science concepts (e.g., Denner, Werner, & Ortiz, 2012) or what kind of knowledge students learn from such an activity (Koh, Basawapatna, Bennett, & Repenning, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Students Learning to Program by Developing Games: Results of a Year-long Project in Primary School Settings

Fokides¹

2017

JITE:Research

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Aim/PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine whether the authoring of computer games in a mainstream primary school setting can support the learning of game design and programming concepts. Background Despite the benefits for students when they learn how to program and the significant body of research regarding this matter, these benefits are still under debate, and the teaching of programming has a relatively undeveloped pedagogy. With this in mind, a project was designed and implemented, having constructionism as its theoretical framework. Also, Microsoft's Kodu Game Lab was used for the development of students' games. MethodologyThe project lasted for almost a school year (fifty two-hour sessions) and the target group was fifth-grade students (ages 10-11). A total of 138 students participated, coming from five schools in Athens, Greece. Students were divided into three groups. While all groups worked in pairs, to the first there was no teachers' guidance, to the second there was limited teachers' guidance, and to the third, a combination of teacher-led and pair work was used. Each group developed three games of escalating complexity and a total of 207 games were analyzed. Data were collected by analyzing students' games and with a short questionnaire. ContributionThe study contributes to the debate surrounding the pedagogy of computer game authoring as a tool for teaching programming. That is because few studies have examined the above in mainstream settings, having as a target group primary school students. Furthermore, the present study is in contrast to most studies which involved intensive research projects, since it lasted for almost a school year. Learning to Program by Developing Games 476Findings It was found that the most commonly used programming concept was conditions, followed by variables and loops, while Boolean logic and functions were the least used ones. The most problematic concepts proved to be Boolean logic and loops, closely followed by functions. The least problematic concepts were conditions and variables. Also, the number of programming concepts that were used was increasing in each game, while the errors were decreasing. All in all, students' final games fall into the relational level according to a modified version of the SOLO taxonomy.While the findings indicated that, as well as learning some basic programming concepts, students enjoyed the activity and demonstrated positive attitudes to learning programming by developing games; it was also found that the teaching method did not have any effect on the learning outcomes nor in their views for game authoring. Recommendations for PractitionersExtended projects can be considered for teaching programming to primary school students, using visual programming tools that allow the development of games. The classes' teachers can undertake the task to teach programming if they are properly trained. The SOLO taxonomy can be used for assessing students' games. Future ResearchFuture studies can examine a variety of game-like prog...

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Able to Create, Able to (Self-)Improve: How an Inclusive Game Framework Fostered Self-Improvement Through Creation and Play in Alcohol and Drugs Rehabilitation

Garcia

Brandão

Mendes

et al. 2019

Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2019

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HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

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A case study of educational game design by kids and for kids

Cited by 72 publications

References 9 publications

Constructionist Gaming: Understanding the Benefits of Making Games for Learning

Constructionist Gaming: Understanding the Benefits of Making Games for Learning

Students Learning to Program by Developing Games: Results of a Year-long Project in Primary School Settings

Able to Create, Able to (Self-)Improve: How an Inclusive Game Framework Fostered Self-Improvement Through Creation and Play in Alcohol and Drugs Rehabilitation

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