Learning Design by Making Games
During the summer of 2016, I read this book (left) edited by Yasmin Kafai and Mitch Resnick. I was inspired by Chapter 4 (called Learning Design by Making Games). In it, she described a study in which a group of 4th grade students spent one hour per day (over a six-month period) writing, designing and programming a computer game (using LogoWriter) for younger students to help them learn about fractions. One of the main conclusions of her study was that the students demonstrated a wide variety of approaches (top-down, bottom-up, and a mix of the two) to the complex task of game design. She also found that students learned things not only through the design task itself but also about design thinking as a concept.
Even though this study was about 25 years old, I knew the idea would still work with a modern class using MIT’s Scratch environment. I also knew it would be an empowering, design/computational-thinking project that would have strong connections to the mathematics curriculum content and processes. I was excited to see what current junior students could learn about design and computational thinking, and mathematics, from this kind of project. In early October 2016, I found a teacher and a Grade 4/5 class who would take part. Starting in January 2017, we partnered with a Grade 2 class in the school (whose students became the target audience for the older students’ computer games).
