Game Making as Model Making: Implications for Environmental Education

• In Event: Games and Emerging Technologies in Environmental Education

Abstract

In this proposal we describe making a board game about polluted water as analogous to the process of model making and by extension, scientific inquiry. Game design is well accepted as a rich learning environment and intent gamers, including children and teens, might be well-positioned to design games set in real-world contexts. Models are powerful scientific and educational tools; interpreting and constructing models are meaningful learning experiences. We present an analysis of emergent model-based inquiry among teens who made a board game about water pollution in a game-making workshop. We find that through game-making, teens were compelled to think about the game as a model, discuss implications for science education, and point to the educational affordances of making non-digital games.

Authors

• Priyanka Parekh, Northern Arizona University

• Elisabeth R. Gee, Arizona State University

• Kelly M. Tran, Evolved Play

• Earl Aguilera, California State University - Fresno

• Luis Enrique Perez Cortes, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Arizona State University

• Taylor M Kessner, Arizona State University

• Sinem Siyahhan, California State University - San Marcos