Students Worked through Challenges
This project required technical expertise and introduced product development. The creation of physical media
posed challenges, such as the variations in sizing, resolution, and quality
when printing on different materials.
Students overcame the hurdles and
took pride in what they had created.
Some designed and wore shirts with
the logos of their fictional companies.
Other students created and passed out
business cards promoting their games
and companies.
Game Making Meets Standards
Game making supports the creative
process and reaches across academic
boundaries to many subjects. For example, some students created a system
to track players’ points that incorporated
basic algebra: the use and manipulation
of variables. Students unfamiliar with
the necessary algebraic processes learned
from other students so they could apply
similar scoring to their games.
This project addressed many of the
ISTE Standards (formerly the NETS),
including Creativity and Innovation;
Communication and Collaboration;
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving,
and Decision Making; and Technol-
ogy Operations and Concepts. For
example, students created and pub-
lished with minimal guidance while
working collaboratively. The assign-
ment required students to use prior
knowledge to construct new concepts
and materials. The end result was stu-
dents working collaboratively toward
learning and mastering the complexi-
ties of a programming language to
publish apps.
Most of this learning was self-directed: Students set learning goals
that reflected the direction of their app
designs. These goals varied greatly between groups. Some students wanted
to learn how to program gravity into
their games, whereas others wanted
to learn absorption (when one object
makes another disappear). Still others
wanted to understand generation (the
creation of one object from another).
In each of these cases, students learned
these concepts because they thought
it would further the creation of their
game, not because an instructor wanted them to learn the concepts.
Students Can Control Their Learning
As educators, our role was to ensure
that students learned basic program-
ming skills. We let students determine
how to apply these skills and acted
as mentors when students wanted to
learn more complex programming.
Instead of teaching “facts,” we
directed students to resources to as-
sist game development. The project
required multidisciplinary resources
once students began incorporating
algebra, music, physics, and artwork
into their apps.
The chance to have their work land
in the Apple App Store was extremely
motivating, and they developed a high
level of expertise in creating physical
media, websites, and the final apps.
Evolving technologies have greatly
accelerated the speed at which learners can acquire and apply information. Educators must be prepared to
embrace these changes if they are to
continue to prepare students for college and the workforce.
—Mark Savignano is a PhD student at the University of Northern Colorado. He is also a full-time teacher of social studies and technology in a
small mountain school in Nederland, Colorado.
—Mia Kim Williams is an associate professor of
educational technology and educational foundations and curriculum studies at the University
of Colorado. Her research focus is development
of multimodal design and digital literacies that
promote student voice and advocacy.
—John Holbrook is a first grade teacher living in
Columbus, Ohio. He is a graduate of Carthage
College and Ohio State University.
Two eighth grade students created
the app Super Happy Snail Time,
based on one they previously
created called Super Happy Turtle
Time. They improved the original by
changing the logo from a turtle to a
snail, redesigning the background,
and changing the objective of the
game to collecting apples while
dodging salt.
