Extrinsic integration The Weirdos designed a “snakes and ladders” game in which players roll dice to advance, and follow the actions written on each square of a path. When facilitators pointed out that their game had little to do with the comic or with the science, the team added “Fun fact” cards about measles. Students likely learned science facts in the process of making cards. But by not integrating the cards into their game’s mechanics, the team produced a weaker educational game, and may have missed opportunities for deeper science learning. Intrinsic integration The Musketeers designed a scavenger hunt game, in which players find components of, and assemble a vaccine. By intentionally attempting to integrate player and learner actions, the team engaged in modeling their understanding of science concepts (how vaccines are made) through their game’s mechanics (find and assemble). “The whole point is, we just want our game board to be fun, but like science…if you add too much science it get’s boring.” ~Musketeers member during game design BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Educational value in designing games for learning • Game design requires integrating knowledge of games, of relevant domain content, and of how people learn (Khaled & Vasalou, 2014). • The process engages skills in inquiry, problem- solving, reflection, explanation, critique, refinement, and collaborative knowledge construction product (Dancz et al., 2017). • Iteration embeds opportunities to test and get feedback on their understanding, and to identify and correct misconceptions • The product is a model of the designer’s understanding of a system, and can be a site for assessment (Ackerman, 2001). “If you add too much science, it gets boring.” Exploring students’ conceptual change through their game design iterations Christopher M. Hovey, Camillia Matuk & Talia Hurwich, New York University METHODS Participants & Context • 5-day game design workshop for 11 grade 7 students, hosted at a university. • 5 facilitators & 2 teachers guided three student teams in designing games to teach players about measles, based on the comic book Carnival of Contagion (Hall, West & Diamond, 2017). Data & Analysis • Field notes, researchers’ reflections, audio recordings of workshop activities, students’ game design artifacts, documentation of students’ design iterations. • Thematic analysis of student artifacts and their recorded design conversations, emergent themes identified & refined through discussion (Vaismoradi, Turunen, Bondas, 2013). • Identified illustrative episodes from 2 student groups: The Musketeers (all boys) & The Weirdos (all girls). REFERENCES Ackermann, E. (2001). Piaget’s constructivism, Papert’s constructionism: What’s the difference. Future of learning group publication, 5(3), 438. Dancz, C. L., Parrish, K., Bilec, M. M., & Landis, A. E. (2017). Assessment of Students’ Mastery of Construction Management and Engineering Concepts through Board Game Design. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 143(4), 04017009. Hall, B., West, J. & Diamond, J. (2017). Carnival of Contagion. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press. Kafai, Y. B., Franke, M. L., Ching, C. C., & Shih, J. C. (1998). Game design as an interactive learning environment for fostering students' and teachers' mathematical inquiry. International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning, 3(2), 149-184. Khaled, R., & Vasalou, A. (2014). Bridging serious games and participatory design. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 2(2), 93-100. Plass, J. L., Homer, B. D., Kinzer, C. K., Frye, J., & Perlin, K. (2011). Learning mechanics and assessment mechanics for games for learning. G4LI White Paper, 1, 2011. Vaismoradi, M., Turunen, H., & Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing & health sciences, 15(3), 398-405. DISCUSSION • Aligning player and learner actions to create games that are both fun and educational offers unique learning opportunities, but is challenging for students. • The degree to which students integrate science into their games (intrinsic vs. extrinsic) may indicate the quality of science learning in which they have engaged (e.g., fact acquisition vs. scientific modeling). • Students’ game design iterations can reflect their changing science conceptions, and be valuable sites for formative assessment. • Future work might explore ways to measure the various kinds of learning outcomes and their scope (e.g., science learning, game design abilities) possible from designing games for learning. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. How do students approach the challenge of designing games for learning? 2. What do students’ game design iterations reveal about their science understanding? Abstract: Game design offers many opportunities for facilitating and understanding learning. We facilitated a 5-day game design workshop for eleven grade 7 students to design educational board games about virology. Through analyses of field notes, audio recording, and design artifacts, we illustrate conceptual change of virology through two student teams’ game design iterations. Findings show how the design process facilitates conceptual change, and how games can be used as assessments of student thinking. FINDINGS 1. Different skills in educational game design • Students differed in abilities to critique vs. design games that aligned learning actions with player actions, a quality that characterizes effective games for learning (Plass et al., 2011). They could explain why existing games failed to balance fun and learning, for example: • But students were not similarly able to embody that alignment in their own designs. • We observed both EXTRINSIC and INTRINSIC integration of learning and player actions (Kafai et al., 1998) Game mechanic Science concept 1 st iteration Players vaccinate the sick to cure them. Vaccines cure diseases 2 nd iteration Vaccines remove symptoms, and indicate the number of a player’s remaining lives. 3 rd iteration “(each player) get(s) chances to get different vaccines to prevent different diseases….some prevent one, some prevent three or four.” ~ One Musketeer member However, players’ characters died too soon and caused the game to end prematurely. Vaccines prevent diseases 4th iteration Each player controls a party of characters who do not become infected all at once. This decision balances accurate science with enjoyable game play. 2. Evolving science understanding evident in game design iterations • The Musketeers’ design iterations reflect their changing conceptions of vaccines (from curative to preventative). • Through playtesting, they ultimately incorporated accurate science into engaging game mechanics without needing to sacrifice one for the other. Facilitator: Which game do you think is a better learning game? Adam: This one (Noobs vs. Leets, NvL) because it teaches you angles. Virginia: The other one (Math Blaster) you just shoot things (…) plus adding (on the math problems) doesn’t have anything to do with shooting (garbage). This one (NvL) actually has something to do with… actually solving. Facilitator: Which one do you think people can learn more from? All: This one (NvL).