This week we investigated computational thinking and gaming in education. 

Computational Thinking

As part of this class we played some games using the Scratch software. These games ranged from Star Catcher, Artillery and Anna and Elsa Ice Skating. Of all these games I found Anna and Elsa the most engaging. The game uses block coding as a mechanic to guide Anna or Elsa along a path.

This game is great for teaching coding but much more applicable skills of computational thinking. This way of thinking focuses on breaking down a problem (decomposition), looking for similarities to other problems (patterns), identifying key information (abstraction) and creating a step-by-step(algorithm). 


I teach social studies and this way of thinking can be useful for examining sources, deducing trends in a past era and creating arguments. Like any skill, these require practice and low-stakes games like these can help teach these skills in an computational, fun way. 

A Scratch game screen with a black starry background. A white cloud sprite is at the bottom, and colorful stars (teal, yellow, and red) are scattered across the screen. A score box in the corner reads 12. Instructions to the right say to use arrow keys to move the cloud and reach 50 points while avoiding red stars.
Star Catcher
A simple 2D game interface with a bright blue sky and green hills. A small gray artillery cannon is on the left hill, and a yellow star is on the far right. A text box to the right explains it's a game beta and lists controls: Up/Down to tilt and Space to fire."
Artillery
A screenshot of a Code.org tutorial interface. On the left, a character named Anna stands on a blue ice surface with a geometric snowflake pattern drawn in white lines. On the right, the workspace shows pink and teal coding blocks arranged in a loop. The code instructions suggest repeating a sequence 10 times to draw a pattern of squares rotated by 36 degrees.
Artillery

Games in Education

Games in education allow teachers and students to engage with material in novel and non-traditional ways. Students would gain an appreciation and possibly make connections that they might not otherwise do in a stand and deliver lecture-centric class.


One example of how one might include games in Social Studies might be roleplaying games like Secret Hitler, which emulates Weimar Germany and how fascism might take control of a nation in secret ways. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APiugylcAJw

An important concern to note is that of time, as there might not. Another is how learning objectives will be accomplished by playing the game. Not every subject or topic might allow for a game. Some topics might be seen as trivialized by gamifying them, as such the teacher should use their best discretion when designing activities and games.