The Playable Stories System: Learning programming and 3D role-playing game design as socially relevant practice

• In Event: Roundtable Session 123
  In Roundtable Session: Constellation of Computational Literacy Practices in Learning Through Game Modding

Abstract

I will report on a novel programming system I developed to support non-programmers in learning how to program as a means to creating socially significant 3D role-playing games. Specifically this work was an exploration of how to teach programming and game design for social purposes, rather than as the end-point themselves. Data presented will include lessons learned about the design of the environment, and data on how children understood programming and game design as socially relevant and persuasive practices will be shared, and ultimately the dispositional shifts participants reported with respect to their computational literacies.

Changing the relationship of youth to programming is important as computing has become ubiquitous in our daily lives through the use of devices such as smart phones and technologies like blogs and videogames. However, the people with the skills to develop and implement new technologies predominantly hail from only a few segments of the population, with over 87% of undergraduate Computer Science (CS) degrees granted to males—67% White and 14% Asian (Zeben, 2010). If tools are central to our thinking (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989) and part of how we develop further advancements in both tools and thought (Shaffer, & Clinton, 2005), then the lack of diversity suggests that only a limited portion of the population is participating in creating the tools, and consequently will shape the way that we interact with the world and the way we think about the world.

I will present on a series of design experiments (Cobb, DiSessa, Lehrer, & Schauble, 2003) wherein we developed a game-based environment for introducing and justifying the need for participants to create games to help a virtual society. Once participants had played through the pre-designed game they earn access to the programming tools and began to create their own games. The design experiments were conducted across two sites, first as an after-school extension activity for 5-weeks (8 boys, 2 girls), and then during a one-week summer camp (7 boys, 5 girls). Individual cases from each site will be used to illuminate the participant’s learning and products created during the implementations. I will also review the design of the programming tools to illuminate how I designed for broad participation.

Initial analysis reveals that within an hour of earning access to the game design tools participants were creating complex games using Actors and Dialogue Pages. While some participants struggled with the 3D level design, the overall experience was uniformly productive resulting in increased comfort using computers, the belief that they could design compelling games, and an increased interest in future engagement with programming. Participants produced a surprising variety of games that ranging from a Zombie Apocalypse game with an underlying message about the importance of altruism, to detective adventures about the dangers of absolute power, to personal stories about conflict resolution in families.

The final presentation will include analysis of the computational thinking skills employed, such as Boolean and conditional logic, modeling and abstraction, and encapsulation.

Author

• Adam Ingram-Goble, Arizona State University - Tempe