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GameWerks Camp: Using Gaming to Foster Learning by Design

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Part of the book series: Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education ((CTISE,volume 41))

Abstract

Electronic gaming has become an integral part of the everyday lives of children, and middle- and high-school-aged campers now devote much time to gaming activities. Children also spend a significant amount of time in school. Unfortunately, campers often find schoolwork uninteresting and disconnected from their lives. As a result, motivating campers remains a very difficult aspect of teaching. Our goal was to create a technology-rich environment in which campers can participate in a fun learning-rich program. We accomplished this by designing a summer camp experience that embeds academic content into the framework of designing video games. Campers engage in authentic designs that are then “pitched” to a panel of individuals, some of whom represent the gaming industry. The approach combines Learning by Design and taps into Generation R’s interest in games.

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Correspondence to Lucas John Jensen .

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Jensen, L.J., Francom, G.M., Tippins, D.J., Orey, M. (2014). GameWerks Camp: Using Gaming to Foster Learning by Design. In: Mueller, M., Tippins, D., Stewart, A. (eds) Assessing Schools for Generation R (Responsibility). Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2748-9_17

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