Playable Stories: Situating Programming, Game Design, and Computational Thinking Within a 3-D Narrative-Based Programming Environment

• In Event: 29.091 - Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: 29.091-4 - Game Design and Game-Based Learning

Abstract

This study reports on the design and research findings on children’s use of a novel system that supports learning programming and 3D role-playing game design as “tools” for addressing social issues in the world. With less than one hour of instruction, participants worked for up to 15 hours with the platform to successfully create 3D games about social issues of their choosing while productively engaging computational thinking skills such as Boolean and conditional logic, planning, and abstraction in their designs, The findings suggest that targeting social issues in novice programming opportunities may broaden the participation and meaning making learners experience, moving from programming as an end goal, to understanding the practice as a tool for social change.

Author

• Adam Ingram-Goble, Arizona State University - Tempe