The Psycholingistics of Children’s Game Design: Results of Year 3 of the Gamestar Mechanic Project

Ivan Alex Games

Thu., June 11, 11:00–12:30, Browsing Library (2nd floor, West Central)

This session will concentrate on the results of year 3 of a design research agenda concentrating on the research and development of an online game focused on game design (Barab & Squire, 2004; Brown, 1992; Collins, Joseph, & Bielaczyc, 2004). The Gamestar Mechanic project is a game–based learning environment under development in a collaboration between the GLS group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Gamelab, a design studio based in New York, with funding from the MacArthur Foundation (Games, 2008; Games & Squire, 2008). Its purpose is to teach middle school children the mindset of designers, as well as its associated language and literacy practices in the context of making computer games.

To examine the evolution of a designer mindset in this context, the author relied on D/discourse theory (Gee, 2005), which sees the enactment and demarcation of identities as a core purpose of human communication, and language (verbal, non–verbal and symbolic) as the main tool through which this takes place in specific contexts, as language bears a fundamental relationship to the organization of higher–order mental functions (Bruner, 1981; Gee, 1992; Vygotsky, 1976).

To examine this language used in the context of play, the author has relied on a mixture of case studies of after-school game design workshops intended to replicate the spaces where students would authentically find games like Gamestar Mechanic (Dewey, 1915). To document this, the author extensively documented the language (verbal, nonverbal, and symbol–mediated) used by learners in the context of the game using ethnographic sources, and a method he terms the “interactive design think–aloud interview,” that combines a Type III think–aloud protocol (Ericsson & Simon, 1993) with a parallel video capture of participant and computer screen activity during design.

The samples were then examined using a discourse analysis methodology (Gee, 2005), and the outcome was a model that sees communication with the language of games as a function of three dialogs, which he terms the material dialog (which takes place between designer and material components of the game), the ideal player dialog (which takes place as the designer aims to reconcile his design with that of a mental model of the player), and the real–player dialog (which takes place as the designer aims to reconcile a model of the player with input from real players).

Based on the findings reported in session, the author makes the argument that as children play with Gamestar Mechanic, they become gradually more competent in their ability to communicate with what he terms the “language of games” (Games, 2008). The learning contexts and tools provided within Gamestar Mechanic facilitate learning this language at a grammatical, semantic, and semiotic level, and in doing so, helps players develop sophisticated understandings of games as complex systems of components, as symbolic inscriptions that carry sophisticated meanings, and as mediators of their understanding of who “the player” and “the designer” are during play. Implications for educational practice and future research directions are discussed.

References

Barab, S., & Squire, K. (2004). Design–based research: Putting a stake in the ground. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1), 1–14.

Brown, A. L. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2(2), 141–178.

Bruner, J. (1981). The pragmatics of acquisition. In W. Deutsch (Ed.), The child’s construction of language. London: Academic Press.

Collins, A., Joseph, D., & Bielaczyc, K. (2004). Design research: Theoretical and methodological issues. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1), 15–42.

Dewey, J. (1915). The school and society. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Ericsson, K. A., & Simon, H. A. (1993). Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Games, I. A. (2008). Three dialogs: A framework for the analysis and assessment of 21st century literacy practices, and its use in the context of game design within Gamestar Mechanic. E-Learning, 5(4), 396–417.

Games, I. A., & Squire, K. (2008). Design thinking in Gamestar Mechanic: The role of gamer experience on the appropriation of the discourse practices of game designers. Proceedings of the International Society of the Learning Sciences. The Netherlands: Utrecht University.

Gee, J. P. (1992). The social mind: Language, ideology and social practice. New York: Bergin and Garvey.

Gee, J. P. (2005). An introduction to discourse analysis. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.