Finding the connection between Game-Design and Problem-Solving: Game-Design and Learning Programs

Presented at Interdisciplinary Stem Teaching & Learning Conference In today‟s complex and fast-evolving world problem solving is an important skill to possess. For young children to be successful at their future careers they need to have the skill and the will to solve complex problems that are beyond the well-defined problems that they learn to solve at schools. One promising approach to teach complex problem solving skills is using visual programming and game design software. Theoretically and anecdotally, extant research enlightened us about the cognitive and motivational potential of these software. Due to lack of empirical evidence, however, we are far from knowing if these claims are warranted. In this quasi-experimental study, the cognitive (i.e., problem solving) and motivational (i.e., interest and value) impacts of participating at the Game Design and Learning Courses (GDL) on middle school children (n = 49), who designed games following a curriculum based on problem solving skills, were investigated. Compared to students in a control group (n =24), the results showed that students who attended the GDL courses showed significant gains in general and specific (i.e., system analysis and design, decision-making, troubleshooting) problem solving skills, (Wilks‟s Λ = .64), F (4, 68) = 9.564, p\u3c.001. In this presentation, I report empirical outcomes, as well as detailed accounts of the design process for the GDL curriculum. Finally, I discuss implications of the GDL intervention for practice and theory

Finding the connection between Game-Design and Problem-Solving: Game-Design and Learning Programs

In today‟s complex and fast-evolving world problem solving is an important skill to possess. For young children to be successful at their future careers they need to have the skill and the will to solve complex problems that are beyond the well-defined problems that they learn to solve at schools. One promising approach to teach complex problem solving skills is using visual programming and game design software. Theoretically and anecdotally, extant research enlightened us about the cognitive and motivational potential of these software. Due to lack of empirical evidence, however, we are far from knowing if these claims are warranted. In this quasi-experimental study, the cognitive (i.e., problem solving) and motivational (i.e., interest and value) impacts of participating at the Game Design and Learning Courses (GDL) on middle school children (n = 49), who designed games following a curriculum based on problem solving skills, were investigated. Compared to students in a control group (n =24), the results showed that students who attended the GDL courses showed significant gains in general and specific (i.e., system analysis and design, decision-making, troubleshooting) problem solving skills, (Wilks‟s Λ = .64), F (4, 68) = 9.564, p\u3c.001. In this presentation, I report empirical outcomes, as well as detailed accounts of the design process for the GDL curriculum. Finally, I discuss implications of the GDL intervention for practice and theory

Designing a computer-based simulation of classroom observation experience for school leaders: A pilot study

The role of school leaders in the school improvement process cannot be overemphasized. School leaders are expected to guide teachers in implementing effective instructional strategies and enhancing student learning. Among many other tasks, conducting effective classroom observations is of paramount importance. Given its benefits, classroom observations are mandated in many educational systems and have been studied by researchers for many years. In the study, we discuss the design of a web-based simulation (LeadWise) to get school leaders to practice instructional leadership skills. We present the design process and feedback from the school leaders that will be used to inform future versions of this work

Supporting Metacognitive Awareness and Strategy Use Through Digital Photography in a Rural Title I School

The Photography and Media Literacy Project (PMLP) was an after-school program designed to teach fourth and fifth grade children about the science and art of photography in a Title I school in rural southeast Georgia. Through the completion of a problem-based applied project, we endeavored to further enhance and develop students’ media literacy, critical thinking, and metacognitive skills. The project involved having students consider some aspect of their environment (i.e., a problem from the natural, physical, school or social environment) and develop a media presentation about the topic (e.g., a movie), which included images that they took (with iPods that we provided), as well as a narrative that described their observation, research, argument and/or experience. Through the use of technology and various other media, our purpose was to help these young learners improve their metacognitive planning and monitoring skills, as well as their problem-solving and reasoning ability, all foundational skills critical for success in high stakes assessments such as Georgia Milestone Assessment. Although no significant differences were found in pre-posttest assessments, we believe that with minor modifications, this type of program shows promise in its potential for boosting participants’ metacognitive functioning and other skills related to critical evaluation of information, which have been found to enhance learning outcomes

Understanding the Relationship Among Self-efficacy, Utility Value, and the Community of Inquiry Framework in Preservice Teacher Education

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown the importance of distance education, and teachers have been tasked with designing and delivering online courses in a short amount of time without much preparation or deliberation. As the future generation of teachers, preservice teachers need to be prepared to teach online, and their motivation to do so is a key factor in how successfully they do it. The community of inquiry framework provides researchers and practitioners with a framework for designing and delivering online courses, while self-efficacy and utility value are important motivational constructs predicting future engagement and success in tasks. In this cross-sectional survey study, we investigated preservice teachers’ (n = 344) perceptions of their self-efficacy, utility value, the importance of the three components of the community of inquiry framework: teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Our results show that overall, preservice teachers had high motivation to teach online and high perceptions of the three presences. Our regression analyses indicated that while preservice teachers’ self-efficacy was a significant predictor of teaching presence, utility value only significantly predicted social presence. We discuss the implications of these findings for teacher education programs, including a holistic approach to teaching online learning and instructional design.</jats:p

What Keeps Teachers Engaged during Professional Development? The Role of Interest Development

Interest influences adults&rsquo; and young learners&rsquo; learning in formal and informal contexts. Although interest and interest development frameworks have been used in research on student-learning, they are not used in teacher-focused research, especially as &ldquo;outcomes&rdquo; of teacher professional development (PD) activities. In this study, we used interest development as the outcome of PD in computer science (CS) and investigated the factors that influenced teachers&rsquo; (n = 5) interest development toward CS using various data sources and analysis methods. We found that interest development is (a) varied, (b) influenced by self-relation, knowledge, and affect, (c) associated with reengagement with PD activities, and (d) it can be captured using computational text analysis methods and online log data

Learning Problem-Solving through Making Games

Today’s complex and fast-evolving world necessitates young students to possess design and problem-solving skills more than ever. One alternative method of teaching children problem-solving or thinking skills has been using computer programming, and more recently, game-design tasks. In this pre-experimental study, a group of middle school students (n = 18) with an age average of 12.6 attended a game-design summer program for 10 days. Students were assessed in their problem-solving skills, specifically in system analysis and design, decision-making, and troubleshooting domains, at the beginning and end of the program. The results indicated that there were significant improvements in students’ problem-solving skills after attending the summer program, Wilks’Λ = .258, F (3, 15) = 14.397, p \u3c .001, η 2 = .742. For system analysis and design, and decision-making follow-up t-tests pointed to large and medium effect sizes, while for troubleshooting the gains were not significant. This study is a contributes to the growing body of literature investigating the benefits of designing games for young children by adding that game-design activities can be suitable venues for young children to learn and practice problem-solving skills

Understanding the Relationship Among Self-Efficacy, Utility Value, and the Community of Inquiry Framework in Preservice Teacher Education

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown the importance of distance education, and teachers have been tasked with designing and delivering online courses in a short amount of time without much preparation or deliberation. As the future generation of teachers, preservice teachers need to be prepared to teach online, and their motivation to do so is a key factor in how successfully they do it. The community of inquiry framework provides researchers and practitioners with a framework for designing and delivering online courses, while self-efficacy and utility value are important motivational constructs predicting future engagement and success in tasks. In this cross-sectional survey study, we investigated preservice teachers’ (n = 344) perceptions of their self-efficacy, utility value, the importance of the three components of the community of inquiry framework: teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Our results show that overall, preservice teachers had high motivation to teach online and high perceptions of the three presences. Our regression analyses indicated that while preservice teachers’ self-efficacy was a significant predictor of teaching presence, utility value only significantly predicted social presence. We discuss the implications of these findings for teacher education programs, including a holistic approach to teaching online learning and instructional design