The authors describe Hexacago Health Academy (HHA) 2.0, a five-year summer intervention designed to increase interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) among mostly Black high school students in Chicago. The program features public health fundamentals and game design using principles of systems thinking, social-cognitive…

Recently scientists have underscored a significant mismatch between the latest theoretical Computational Thinking conceptualizations as an upcoming literacy that goes beyond computer science, and its operationalizations in current empirical research and designs, which are limited to coding-centred and domain-specific tools and approaches. To…

The authors argue that playable fictions and analog game design can be an effective way to engage students in discussions about climate change and related scientific areas of exploration. They offer the example of a middle school climate science education unit grounded in the design, analysis, and play of board games and card games based on a…

This emerging technology report introduces the "WearableLearning" (WL) platform as a tool to exercise computational thinking and STEM learning for 5-12th grade students through mobile technology-augmented active game play and game creation. Freely available at "WearableLearning.org," it allows students and teachers to play,…

Educators have recently begun using digital breakout games as an instructional strategy in K-12 and higher ed curricula. However, research has thus far explored outcomes associated with playing these games, rather than designing them. This study investigates what happened when 23 preservice teachers in a technology integration course designed…

The construction of prediction models reflecting players' learning performance in serious games currently faces various challenges for learning analytics. In this study, we design, implement, and field test a learning analytics system for a serious game, advancing the field by explicitly showing which in-game features correspond to differences in…

The current study investigated students' gameplay behavioral patterns as a function of in-game learning supports delivery timing when played a computer-based physics game. Our sample included 134 secondary students (M = 14.40, SD = .90) from all over the United States, who were randomly assigned into three conditions: receiving instructional…

The current study investigated how prior knowledge moderated the effects of three educational technologies ("From Here to There," "DragonBox 12+," and problem sets in "ASSISTments") on seventh-grade students' later algebraic knowledge. Pretest scores only moderated effects of "From Here to There," with…

The effective teaching of the concept of programming, where critical thinking is an important factor, is not so easy in secondary education. New teaching approaches, including, game-based learning, may provide a solution due to their inclusion of more fun and diverse activities but they still lack the active participation of the students in the…

This study uses a case study methodology to showcase the use of the DTSICM (Design thinking Strategy to Identify and Clear Misconceptions) model, which provides a design thinking approach to identify and clear a common misconception on photosynthesis, held by a sample of 27 A-level students. As a first stage, data collected through the…

The purpose of this study was to identify the underlying cognitive attributes used during the design and development of science-based serious educational games. Study methods rely on a modification of cognitive diagnostics, item response theory, and Bayesian estimation with traditional statistical techniques such as factor analysis and model fit…

Serious games are used in the field of cultural heritage as a means to transmit cultural knowledge and enable an experiential contact with cultural content. The authors' aim is to investigate whether a game design exploiting the less used combination of complex storytelling, endogenous cooperation, and competition has the potential to sufficiently…

This paper situates a critical review of studies that we have conducted within the broader research literature to analyze the affordances of integrating modeling within disciplinarily-integrated games from computational thinking and science as practice perspectives. Across the studies, the analyses pursue two themes: (a) the role of agent-based…

As new introductory block-based coding applications for young students to learn basic computer science concepts, such as, loops and conditionals, continue to increase in popularity, it is necessary to consider the best method of teaching students these skills. Many of these products continue to exhibit programmatic misconceptions of these concepts…

This design case describes the development of three analog games intended to introduce middle school-age girls to core computer science (CS) concepts. We describe the learning objectives, game mechanics, and narrative elements of each game, and some key problems and decisions that we confronted during the design process. Our design process was…