(30 minutes)
Ken Kahn

We explore the hypothesis that the learning can be deeper and more richly interconnected if computer game playing is combined with computer game making. Professional game makers need to bring together expertise on game design and the game's subject domain with mathematics, science, computation, art, music, drama, and more. We believe that even a tiny part of this game making experience can give learners a deep and broad learning experience. The strong attraction for game making that many learners have can draw them to this and sustain their efforts.

Acquiring the skills to make computer games, however, requires a major investment in time and effort. This large investment in acquiring the prerequisite programming skills can perhaps be justified by the potential payoff in general problem-solving skills and learning by building computational models. Here, however, we present some novel research in how games can be made without first learning to program computers. Furthermore, these games are made in the context of a metagame.

This is work I did jointly with Richard Noss and Celia Hoyles funded by the BBC Digital Curriculum Project.

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