The purpose of the qualitative study was to investigate experiences of first-time board-game users (29 elementary school students) in playing "Coding Ocean" (CO) to learn computational thinking. CO was a two-team strategy board game and was designed for children developing basic understanding of computational thinking. Participation…

In order to be well-educated citizens in the 21st century, children need to learn computing in school. However, implementing computing education in schools faces several practical problems, such as a lack of computing teachers and time in an already overloaded curriculum. A solution may be a multidisciplinary approach, integrating computing…

The Twin Cities PBS "Ready to Learn" project focuses on the building of science and literacy skills of diverse students ages 5 to 8. It also promotes equity for historically underrepresented children in science (race-ethnic minorities, low-income children with disabilities, English Language Learners). The Transformative Transmedia…

While advances in game-based learning are already transforming educative practices globally, with tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google taking notice and investing in educational game initiatives, there is a concurrent and critically important development that focuses on "game construction" pedagogy as a vehicle for enhancing…

This study employed a case study design (Yin, "Case study research, design and methods," 2009) to investigate the processes used by 5th graders to design and develop computer games within the context of their environmental science unit, using the theoretical framework of "constructionism." Ten fifth graders designed computer games using "Scratch"…