scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Author

J. C. Shih

Bio: J. C. Shih is an academic researcher from University of California, Los Angeles. The author has contributed to research in topics: Cognitively Guided Instruction & Instructional design. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 126 citations.

Papers
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Game design is proposed as a learning environment for students and teachers to build on and challenge their existing understandings of mathematics, engage in relevant and meaningful learning contexts, and develop connections among their mathematical ideas and their real world contexts.
Abstract: Many learning environments, computer-based or not, have been developed for either students or teachers alone to engage them in mathematical inquiry. While some headway has been made in both directions, few efforts have concentrated on creating learning environments that bring both teachers and students together in their teaching and learning. In the following paper, we propose game design as such a learning environment for students and teachers to build on and challenge their existing understandings of mathematics, engage in relevant and meaningful learning contexts, and develop connections among their mathematical ideas and their real world contexts. To examine the potential of this approach, we conducted and analyzed two studies: Study I focused on a team of four elementary school students designing games to teach fractions to younger students, Study II focused on teams of pre-service teachers engaged in the same task. We analyzed the various games designed by the different teams to understand how teachers and students conceptualize the task of creating virtual game learning environment for others, in which ways they integrate their understanding of fractions and develop notions about students' thinking in fractions, and how conceptual design tools can provide a common platform to develop meaningful fraction contexts. In our analysis, we found that most teachers and students, when left to their own devices, create instructional games to teach fractions that incorporate little of their knowledge. We found that when we provided teachers and students with conceptual design tools such as game screens and design directives that facilitated an integration of content and game context, the games as well as teachers' and students' thinking increased in their sophistication. In the discussion, we elaborate on how the design activities helped to integrate rarely used informal knowledge of students and teachers, how the conceptual design tools improved the instructional design process, and how students and teachers benefit in their mathematical inquiry from each others' perspectives. In the outlook, we discuss features for computational design learning environments.

134 citations


Cited by
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the utility of using virtual environments to transform social interaction via behavior and context, with the goal of improving learning in digital environments, has been explored in four empirical studies, and it was shown that teachers with augmented social perception (i.e., receiving visual warnings alerting them to students not receiving enough teacher eye gaze) were able to spread their attention more equally among students than teachers without augmented perception.
Abstract: This article illustrates the utility of using virtual environments to transform social interaction via behavior and context, with the goal of improving learning in digital environments. We first describe the technology and theories behind virtual environments and then report data from 4 empirical studies. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated that teachers with augmented social perception (i.e., receiving visual warnings alerting them to students not receiving enough teacher eye gaze) were able to spread their attention more equally among students than teachers without augmented perception. In Experiments 2 and 3, we demonstrated that by breaking the rules of spatial proximity that exist in physical space, students can learn more by being in the center of the teacher's field of view (compared to the periphery) and by being closer to the teacher (compared to farther away). In Experiment 4, we demonstrated that inserting virtual co-learners who were either model students or distracting students changed the learn...

412 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A strategy for coding student games is presented, and an analysis of 108 games created by middle school girls using Stagecast Creator in an after school class indicates that game construction involving both design and programming activities can support the learning of computer science concepts.
Abstract: Computer game programming has been touted as a promising strategy for engaging children in the kinds of thinking that will prepare them to be producers, not just users of technology. But little is known about what they learn when programming a game. In this article, we present a strategy for coding student games, and summarize the results of an analysis of 108 games created by middle school girls using Stagecast Creator in an after school class. The findings show that students engaged in moderate levels of complex programming activity, created games with moderate levels of usability, and that the games were characterized by low levels of code organization and documentation. These results provide evidence that game construction involving both design and programming activities can support the learning of computer science concepts.

290 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The study findings indicated that participants developed significantly more positive dispositions toward mathematics after computer game making, and found that experience-driven game design processes helped to activate children's reflection on everyday mathematical experiences.
Abstract: This mixed-method case study examined the potential of computer-assisted, math game making activities in facilitating design-based math learning for school children. Sixty-four middle school children participated in Scratch-based, math game making activities. Data were collected via activity and conversation observation, artifact analysis, interviewing, and survey. The study findings indicated that participants developed significantly more positive dispositions toward mathematics after computer game making. The study also found that experience-driven game design processes helped to activate children's reflection on everyday mathematical experiences. Mathematical thinking and content experience were intertwined within the process of computer game authoring. On the other hand, children designers were involved in game-world and story crafting more than mathematical representation. And it was still challenging for them to perform computer game coding with abstract reasoning.

231 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Making games not only more genuinely introduces children to a range of technical skills but also better connects them to each other, addressing the persistent issues of access and diversity present in traditional digital gaming cultures.
Abstract: There has been considerable interest in examining the educational potential of playing video games. One crucial element, however, has traditionally been left out of these discussions—namely, children's learning through making their own games. In this article, we review and synthesize 55 studies from the last decade on making games and learning. We found that the majority of studies focused on teaching coding and academic content through game making, and that few studies explicitly examined the roles of collaboration and identity in the game making process. We argue that future discussions of serious gaming ought to be more inclusive of constructionist approaches to realize the full potential of serious gaming. Making games, we contend, not only more genuinely introduces children to a range of technical skills but also better connects them to each other, addressing the persistent issues of access and diversity present in traditional digital gaming cultures.

220 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An overview of computer software and instructional strategies intended to engage young people in making computer games, to achieve a variety of educational goals concludes by discussing the potential value of explicit attention to “design thinking” as goal of game making in education.
Abstract: This article provides an overview of computer software and instructional strategies intended to engage young people in making computer games, to achieve a variety of educational goals. It briefly describes the most popular of such programs and compares their key features, including the kinds of games that can be created with the software, the types of communities and resources that are associated with each program, claims made for learning outcomes resulting from use of the software, and the results of empirical research (if any) on the application and outcomes of the software in formal or informal educational settings. A key finding is that existing software and educational applications stress the goal of teaching users about computer programming and place little or no emphasis on teaching concepts related to game design. It concludes by discussing the potential value of explicit attention to “design thinking” as goal of game making in education.

136 citations