Games and Learning encompasses research into the use of games in learning environments. Subtopics include creation of social and cultural worlds, communities of game play, and use of game-generated data. Currently the most prominent themes revolve around design principles to support student engagement, Meaningful Learning, learner self-concept, brain development, social interaction, and collaborative knowledge production.
Learn More...Constructionism is focused on the learning that happens through being immersed in making physical objects. Such learning is seen as participatory and situated, and it involves connecting and integrating different ideas.
Learn More...Maker Education is a collaborative, hands-on, problem- or project-based approach that emphasizes prototyping and repurposing objects to innovate. Maker Education focuses on developing insights into how things work and thus eschews prefabricated kits and models. In schools, Maker Education is learner driven and emphasizes interdisciplinarity, iteration (cycles of building and revising), and peer-to-peer teaching.
Learn More...Broadly speaking, Gamification refers to the use of elements and principles of game-design in non-game situations. Within education, Gamification is typically focused on making learning activities more engaging. Sub-interests span such topics as student efficacy, Learning Transfer, identity formation, real-time feedback, problem solving, scaffolded learning, and social connection.
Learn More...Focus
Learning through making video games
Principal Metaphors
- Knowledge is … ever-shifting scope of possibility
- Knowing is … making
- Learner is … an improviser (individual-in-group)
- Learning is … developing understanding through making
- Teaching is … supervising, facilitating, guiding
Originated
2010s
Synopsis
Constructionist Gaming blends the core themes of Constructionism, Maker Education, and Games and Learning to focus on student learning through making their own games. It is oriented by the conviction that making games contributes to the development of technical skills and supports the development of social skills. (Compare Games and Learning and Gamification.)
Commentary
Constructionist Gaming is a mash-up. See Constructionism, Maker Education, and Games and Learning.
Authors and/or Prominent Influences
Yasmin B. Kafai; Quinn Burke
Status as a Theory of Learning
Constructionist Gaming is a not theory of learning, although it is attentive to its orienting metaphors.
Status as a Theory of Teaching
Constructionist Gaming is a theory of teaching. It offers advice and describes conditions to support learning.
Status as a Scientific Theory
Constructionist Gaming is an emergent discourse that does has not yet met our criteria to be classified as scientific.
Map Location
Please cite this article as:
Davis, B., & Francis, K. (2021). “Constructionist Gaming” in Discourses on Learning in Education. https://learningdiscourses.com.
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