Water, levels, and loops - Evidence of teens’ emerging understanding of systems while designing games

Priyanka Parekh, Elisabeth Gee, Kelly Tran, Earl Aguilera, Luis E. Pérez Cortés, Taylor Kessner, Sinem Siyahhan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

In recent times, there has been a surge of interest in both learning through design and learning systems thinking. Game design is well accepted as a rich learning environment [12, 25] and intent gamers, including children and teens, might be well-positioned to design games around environments while exploring both the context and the game as systems. We present a preliminary analysis of emergent systems thinking among teens who were making a board game about water pollution in a game-making workshop. Our findings suggest that through game-making, teens were compelled to think about both games and the context of the game as systems. We discuss implications for nurturing systems thinking as well as understanding of science concepts, and point to the affordances of non-digital games as tools for learning.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of FabLearn 2019 - 8th Annual Conference on Maker Education
Subtitle of host publicationWhat Role does Maker Education Play in a World with Growing Social and
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages73-80
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781450362443
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 9 2019
EventFabLearn 2019 - 8th Annual Conference on Maker Education, FL 2019 - New York, United States
Duration: Mar 9 2019Mar 10 2019

Publication series

NameACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

ConferenceFabLearn 2019 - 8th Annual Conference on Maker Education, FL 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNew York
Period3/9/193/10/19

Keywords

  • Game design
  • Games
  • Making
  • Systems thinking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Software

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