Game Play and Game Design to Support Design Cognition of Undergraduate Students

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Creative Approaches to Foster Learning in the College Classroom

Abstract

Design thinking hype distorts the notion of its original concept and its teaching and learning practices in business schools. This paper discusses preliminary findings on how undergraduate students might use design thinking to solve problems using a game-based learning activity to mediate design cognition. In this activity, the students played a board game intended to provide an introductory experience in entrepreneurship. After playing the game, the students were invited to redesign the game they just played. Twelve undergraduate students in an entrepreneurship course in Brazil were engaged in this 10-hour pedagogical intervention. Through this activity, the students employed cognitive acts such as framing, analogical reasoning and mental simulation.

Authors

• Wilian Gatti Junior, University of Calgary

• Beaumie Kim, University of Calgary

• Fernando Nascimento da Silva, Escola Superior de Empreendedorismo

• Laleh Behjat, University of Calgary