Abstract
In this mixed-methods study, we examined if students benefitted from a game design course offered during an enrichment hour in terms of gains in their system analysis and design skills. Students at a rural middle school in Southeast US (n = 19) attended a 1-hour game design course offered weekly during an academic enrichment class period, for the duration of a school year, learning basics of digital game-design and practicing system design skills such as making flowcharts. The results of quasi-experimental data indicated that the treatment group’s pretest–posttest system analysis and design skills, compared to the control group, which did not receive any training, further improved, F(1,33) = 16.516, p < 0.001. Results from the interviews showed that the participants were able to verbalize how they applied system analysis and design skills developed during the course to problem-solving in different contexts. We discussed the instructional aspects of learning game-design that align with systems thinking. We also explored the possible influence of initial cognitive skills on student learning outcomes from such interventions.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to Dr. Tarcin for sharing his pearls of wisdom and unwavering support with us during the course of this research.
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Appendix
Appendix
Interview questions
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1.
Questions about the test
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a.
look at items and ask how and why they solved it the way they did (how did you get this answer)
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b.
when you were learning how to create games, were there things that helped you in thinking how to solve problems like these?
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a.
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2.
Questions about their game design, programming, and overall experience
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a.
what did you like or didn’t like about the process of designing games?
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b.
is there anything you wish you could do differently?
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c.
is there anything that you wish you knew to make your game better?
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d.
while making a game, when you are trying to program characters in your game (SCREENSHOT ATTACHED), what do you usually do? (for example, if you run into a challenge, what was your first instinct: raise hand, ask friend, ask instructor, online?) Why?
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e.
Do you (or did you) continue to create games outside school?
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i.
was this the game that you were already working on?
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ii.
use Kodu?
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i.
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f.
Do you have any coding/programming experience (with any software/language)? Have you done anything like this before?
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a.
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Akcaoglu, M., Green, L.S. Teaching systems thinking through game design. Education Tech Research Dev 67, 1–19 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-018-9596-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-018-9596-8