Designing for Student and Teacher Agency in a Sandbox-Style Video Gaming Environment

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 61
  In Roundtable Session: Learner, Instructor, and Designer Roles

Abstract

Sandbox style video games, such as Minecraft, offer promise in allowing teachers to reach instructional goals while providing students with a space of agency. This paper describes the first two iterations of a design experiment aimed at developing a framework for task design and implementation within such a gaming environment. We detail what was learned from the first iteration of tasks and how revisions were made for the next iteration. Using data from the second iteration, we identify the essential features of one task that generated a space for mathematical activity in which both teachers and students were afforded agency and had the capacity to exercise it.

Authors

• Nicole Panorkou, Montclair State University

• Steven Greenstein, Montclair State University

• Justin Edward Seventko, Montclair State University