Designing and assessing digital games in a classroom: an emerging culture of critique

Abstract

This study explores situated practices of game design critique in a Swedish 4th grade classroom. The analyses are based on video recordings of peer feedback activities within the context of a project on computational thinking using the software Scratch. Drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, the interactional and collaborative accomplishment of design critique is examined, focusing on how the participants make relevant norms and values concerning what constitutes a 'good' game. The results of the study show that the children and their teacher orient to different themes that concern aesthetic, functional, and ethical aspects of the games and the design process, at the same time as a moral order in and for the conduct of critique is accomplished in interaction. The study sheds light on the emergence of a local culture of critique as the children learn to formulate and respond to peer feedback, thus negotiating and developing digital literacy.

Effectiveness of collaboration in developing computational thinking skills: A systematic review of social cognitive factors

“…Relatively few studies ( n = 5) deliberately attended to cultural aspects of collaborative programming in CT. Overall, collaborative learning activities in CT can be used to promote the classroom culture of active participation (Brady et al, 2017), accountable culture (Worrell et al, 2015), culture of critique (Bowden & Aarsand, 2020), expressive culture (de Paula et al, 2018), and competitive culture (Eguchi, 2016).…”

“…Tasks were usually assigned to the whole group with the following characteristics (1) group projects that pool each group member's knowledge and competence to complete (Ziaeefard et al, 2017), (2) open‐ended, which may encourage collaborating groups to brainstorm for new ideas (Papadakis, 2018), and (3) problem‐based, which can involve students into collaborative problem‐solving process (Çınar & Tüzün, 2021). The collaborative learning activities included collaboration activities (e.g., Kucuk & Sisman, 2020), competition activities (Witherspoon et al, 2016), and feedback activities (Bowden & Aarsand, 2020) that engage students in the learning process. Also, scaffolding provided to the students can be (1) a step‐by‐step activity sheet that was useful to guide students in properly performing the programming tasks with increased complexity levels (Atmatzidou & Demetriadis, 2016), (2) peer mentors (Chiazzese et al, 2019), and the facilitation from instructors during collaboration process (Fields et al, 2021).…”

“…The classroom culture, from learning by design (Brady et al, 2017), represents the distinctive characteristics and atmosphere of a specific class, which reflected in the students' language use (de Paula et al, 2018) and meaning making (Bowden & Aarsand, 2020). Relatively few studies ( n = 5) deliberately attended to cultural aspects of collaborative programming in CT.…”

“…Their expressions were found to encompass both narratives and computational aspects that were intrinsically connected in a way that used concrete expressions to understand CT concepts (de Paula et al, 2018). Fourth, the culture of critique emerged as the children learned to formulate and respond to peer feedback, thus negotiating and developing digital literacy (Bowden & Aarsand, 2020). Fifth, competitive culture in robotics was found to impact young people by advancing technological awareness and capabilities (Eguchi, 2016).…”

Digital Newspapers’ Perspectives about Adolescents’ Smartphone Use

“…The increasing popularity of the Internet and mobile devices requires that education professionals provide citizens with media literacy and training to have a criticalreflective viewpoint. Digital literacy is negotiated, adjusted, corrected and developed within an emerging criticism culture [29,30].…”