Game Design for Mathematics Learning: Students as Designers of New Possibilities

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: The Use of Games and Play to Enhance Learning Environments

Abstract

This paper discusses a study on mathematics learning through redesigning board games. We examine the integration of game design for mathematics learning from a complexity perspective. We specifically explore how collaborative game design practices support students’ communicating their diverse ideas and collectively exploring possibilities of using mathematics in creating working systems (i.e., games). We argue that this game design-based approach goes beyond solving linear problems and practicing computation and promotes the view of mathematics as a tool to study and model systems and phenomena. Our findings show how the students used mathematics as a means to share their ideas and to imagine and experiment with possible structures to create meaningful play situations in the modeled world of their games.

Authors

• Reyhaneh Bastani, University of Calgary

• Beaumie Kim, University of Calgary