Help Seeking and Computation in a Collaborative Board Game Task

• In Event: Fiddling on the Fly: Thinking, Learning, and Designing Using Board Games

Abstract

1. Objectives

Through the analysis of the dialogue present during the play of a commercial board game, we investigate the naturalistic play of collaborative, strategic board games and their connection to hypothesized computational thinking practices. Furthering the work of Berland and Lee (2011), we present analyses of the ways that “help seeking” (e.g., Alevan, et al, 2006) -- overt vocalizations asking for assistance -- connect with computational practices within a collaborative, strategic board game (Pandemic; Leacock, 2008).

2. Theoretical framework

Building on recent work into strategic board games and computational thinking (Berland & Lee, 2011), we further develop this line of research through a study of help seeking and computational thinking within gameplay of a collaborative, strategic board game (Zagal, Rick, & Hsi, 2006). These games afford practices within the ‘cognitive pillar’ of computational literacy (diSessa, 2000), in which players use computational thinking in order to solve complex problems (e.g. Papert's, 1980, ‘procedural thinking’). With the recent emphasis on understanding the dynamics of computational thinking (see National Research Council, 2009; Wing, 2006), we see the collaborative, strategic board game as a fruitful domain in which to assess the development of informal computational thinking practices.

3. Methods

The study involved tracking naturalistic gameplay within the collaborative, strategic board game Pandemic (Leacock, 2008). Two groups of players (n=2; n=3) were given game components, game rules, an additional experimenter-imposed rule, then asked to learn how to play and play a single game. Video and audio were recording of the game play was recorded, transcribed, and parsed into utterances for analysis. For the verbal data, two coding schemes were utilized — first, an a priori scheme to capture elements of computational thinking (adapted from Berland and Lee, 2010), as well as emergent codes inteded to capture help seeking expressions (a la Aleven, et al, 2006) within gameplay.

4. Data sources

Verbal exchanges between participants were coded for each of the computational thinking codes (conditional logic, distributed cognition, simulation, debugging, algorithm building) for each of the two gameplay cases. Additionally, a series of 26 emergent help-seeking codes were developed, classifying expressions of help, levels of help received, levels of response to help, and levels of self-efficacy exhibited. Full exchanges between participants were culled for post hoc Discourse analyses (Gee, 2006).

5. Results

Results indicated that as gameplay progressed, participants moved from primarily simulation-based computational practices to algorithm building, while the nature of help-seeking decreased in frequency. However, the nature of help-seeking in particular was correlated with algorithm-building, indicating that as complex procedural thinking is engaged by participants in these games, collaborative help seeking becomes a foundational step in computational thinking in collaborative contexts.

6. Significance

As we explore the potential of physical games for fostering learning in a variety of contexts, better understanding how collaboration and computation are interrelated is key. Additionally, with this work, we aim to explore how the value of help seeking in the thinking process might transfer from the informal learning environment to traditional classroom settings.

Authors

• Sean C. Duncan, Indiana University

• Melanie Boecking, The University of Texas - San Antonio

• Matthew W. Berland, University of Wisconsin - Madison