RESEARCH ARTICLE An investigation of the artifacts and process of constructing computers games about environmental science in a fifth grade classroom Ahmet Baytak • Susan M. Land Published online: 7 February 2011 Ó Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2011 Abstract This study employed a case study design (Yin, Case study research, design and methods, 2009) to investigate the processes used by 5th graders to design and develop computer games within the context of their environmental science unit, using the theo- retical framework of constructionism. Ten fifth graders designed computer games using Scratch software. The results showed students were able to design functional games, following a learning-by-design process of planning, designing, testing, and sharing. Observations revealed that game design led to opportunities for informal knowledge building and sharing among students. This, in turn, encouraged students to test and improve their designs. The findings support the conclusion that elementary students can develop programming concepts and create computer games when using graphical pro- gramming software developed for their level of experience. Insights into the iterative process of learning-by-game design are presented. Keywords Children’s learning Á Game design Á Constructionism Á Programming Á Environmental education Á Educational technology Gaming has traditionally been a part of children’s everyday life as a method of play. Given the prominence of entertainment games for young children, interest has been corre- spondingly generated in the educational potential of computer games for classroom use This work is based upon the doctoral dissertation completed by the first author at The Pennsylvania State University. A. Baytak Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey S. M. Land Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA e-mail: sml11@psu.edu A. Baytak (&) Muhendislik Faku ¨ltesi, Harran University, Bilgisayar Muh., 63300 Sanliurfa, Turkey e-mail: ahmet_baytak@yahoo.com 123 Education Tech Research Dev (2011) 59:765–782 DOI 10.1007/s11423-010-9184-z