Game Based Learning and Scratch!

Game Based Learning (GBL) refers to utilising ‘video’ games for educational purposes. Games could be made specifically for education such as The Magic School Bus (available online at https://arcadespot.net/game/magic-school-bus/) or games developed for the entertainment industry such as the Civilization games. What matters is the educational purpose in the ‘designed experience’ (Squire, 2008) to promote learning (Mayer, 2014). This concept refers to the intent of the teacher in using the game as an educational tool towards teaching a specific learning outcome. Mayer (2016) goes on to state that many games are ineffective as they do not closely align with specified outcomes.

Scratch is not an video game program. However it can allow users to create a game utilising its coding capacity. Making games is an effective constructionist approach to developing understanding by having students engage with the subject matter and reflect on their initial understanding (Kafai, 2006). By creating games using scratch, students are clearly creating, modifying and following algorithms while displaying computational thinking as described in Science and Technology outcome: ST3-3DP-T.

Scratch can be used to create role playing games, trivia games, physics games (you can simulate gravity) or sports games. The only limit to creativity in scratch is the task. If the teacher uses scratch with a limited requirement such as ‘create a collecting buttons game, watch a tutorial on how to program the coins’ then the student’s coding will be exactly the same leaving room for creativity on in the presentation. If students are allowed to deviate and be innovative in their coding, then utilising scratch as a game design tool is effective pedagogy. Some scholars such as Clarke, Tanner-Smith & Killingsworth (2016) dont include game design within the GBL pedagogical umbrella due to its foundations in design based learning. However as the games can be utilised and played by their peers for education purposes, game design can play an important role in GBL (Mayr, Bendl & Mörike, 2015). In the scratch scenario, students can try and reverse engineer specific functions of the game to deepen their understanding of algorithms. For example, if students are simply directed to create a game, they may create a piece of coding that simulates gravity that other students could enhance their computational thinking skills through reverse engineering.

References:

Clark, D. B., Tanner-Smith, E. E., & Killingsworth, S. S. (2016). Digital games, design, and learning: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Review of educational research, 86(1), 79-122.

Kafai, Y. B. (2006). Playing and making games for learning: Instructionist and constructionist perspectives for game studies. Games and culture, 1(1), 36-40.

Mayer, R. E. (2014). Computer games for learning: An evidence-based approach. MIT Press.

Mayr, P., Bendl, H., & Mörike, F. (2015). The Double-Effect Approach to Serious Games in Higher Education: Students Designing and Developing Serious Games for Other Students. In International Conference on Games and Learning Alliance (pp. 42-50). Springer, Cham.

Squire, K. (2008). Open-ended video games: A model for developing learning for the interactive age. The ecology of games: Connecting youth, games, and learning, 167-198.