Post #2 - August 17, 2020

To gain the necessary background for my topic, I am diving deep into the various forms of inequality present in our world that lead to the unfortunate STEM literacy gap seen among students today. One of the sources I used was actually my own original podcast. I created this podcast over the past summer with the assistance of the Stephens Lab over at Albany Medical College. My podcast is called Illuminating STEM Stories, and it highlights women who have achieved amazing things in traditionally male-dominated STEM careers. I found that their experiences hold a lot of insight into how some groups are at a prominent advantage when it comes to STEM topics. I learned from them that traditional attitudes surrounding what women or certain minority groups should or shouldn’t do play a big part in whether they value gaining a STEM education. Also, parents who were heavily invested in STEM were more likely to want their kids to pursue it as well. This was apparent in my interview with an astrophysicist at NASA. She gained an interest in astronomy thanks to stargazing sessions with her father when she was young. Asides from my podcast sessions, I did an in-depth literature search as well.

My favorite paper that I read was called The Role of Prototype Matching in Science Pursuits. It went into an interesting discussion about how self-identification with certain careers and subjects draws us to them or away from them. This means that if scientists are being portrayed in popular media as being predominantly male and white, or as being exclusively shy and introverted, then that’s what students will use to evaluate their fit with the career. Their research study measured whether scientific careers are viewed as agentic or communal by students. They found that students tend to view STEM careers as very agentic, meaning that they center around hard facts and individual work. They also believe that STEM disciplines lack communal aspects, meaning that they lack collaboration and communication. This view is a problem because it incorrectly pigeon holes STEM careers and stops certain groups of students from gaining interest in them. Both of these sources were amazing to inform my next moves. I need to keep in mind that I need to portray the positive aspects of STEM to improve literacy. Kids need to want to learn it.

Post # 3 - August 24, 2020

This week, I tried to prioritize the questions that I had surrounding my topic. My goal was to mostly ask questions that could be looked at as objectively as possible. I learned from last year that subjectivity is hard and can be misleading. This is what I came up with.

1. In which part of the United States is the STEM literacy gap most prevalent?

2. Based on your reearch, what is the fundamental cause of the STEM literacy gap ?

3. How would you compare the degree of humanities literacy to that of STEM literacy among students?

4. What are the benefits of having a STEM literate population?

5. What would you reccomend to promote STEM literacy in and around your community?

I am really excited to tackle these questions with the upcoming school year, but am quite nervous to find the answers. I have a hunch that inequality among socioeconomic classes and races might play a role in the unfortunate STEM literacy gap our country faces.

Post #4 - September 11, 2020

What are the benefits of having a STEM literate population?

I chose to address this question first, as it seems to be the stepping stone for everything else I want to learn. Research has told me that there is an undeniable gap in STEM literacy across the United States. Not all kids graduating high school students are equally or even adequately knowledgeable in STEM disciplines and principles. That being said, someone might ask me, well what’s the problem? Why can’t this STEM literacy gap exist - is it worth the effort to prioritize baseline STEM education? I need to understand why or if it is really essential to bridge this gap. To do that, I need to focus on the positive. If everyone was sufficiently literate in STEM by the end of high school, how would that benefit both them and the world at large once they enter the workplace? This information will be strong supporting evidence for me to justify my plans to improve this gap within our community. Not everyone enjoys STEM or wants to go into a STEM profession in the future, and that is completely fine. However, disregarding STEM education for such kids is not the right move. That is my belief, and by focusing on this essential question first, I can start to build my rationale as to why. Why do English and History majors need a STEM education? All of these sub-questions and thoughts can be answered with deep analysis of my essential question. Thus, it was pretty easy for me to recognize that it should be prioritized.

Post #5 - September 22, 2020

What are the benefits of having a STEM literate population?

I began my quest to answer this question by looking to the United States Department of Education. They are after all the ones who lay out the broad goals for STEM learning in our country. On their website, I was able to find America's Official Strategy for STEM Education presented by the Committee on STEM Education. This felt like the perfect source. The document was only written two years ago, so it would allow me to figure out why the government recently became so interested in STEM education. The document aknowledges that "the pace of innovation is accelerating globally, and with it the competition for scientific and technical talent." Therefore, the goverment know that STEM-based discoveries and innovations have propelled America to international superstardom. We need a well-equipped STEM workforce that can outcompete their global counterparts. This source makes it clear that the future of the United States depends on "an effective and inclusive STEM education ecosystem." The government asserted that STEM literacy is vital to foster individual success in modern times. As we continue to progress, the ability to use digital devices and STEM skills such as evidence-based reasoning is required to "function as an informed consumer and citizen." This source also backed up what I had originally believed. It is stated that "the character of STEM education itself has been evolving from a set of overlapping disciplines into a more integrated and interdisciplinary approach to learning and skill development." Academic concepts are now being taught through real-world applications: they've become a unique combination of formal and informal learning in schools, the community, and the workplace. STEM literacy is important because it imparts skills in the general public such as critical thinking and problem solving along with soft skills such as cooperation and adaptability.

Post #6 - Person, Place, Thing Reflection

This assignment took some initial planning. I had no idea what format I wanted to go with. I realized that I want to incorporate visuals and dialogue into my assignment, but I can't draw. After some thinking, I remembered a great online tool that I used in French class last year called Storyboard That. I decided to use their pre-designed sets to re-create scenes from my life. I split the comic strip into three boxes and depicted three events: being the only girl in a STEM class for the first time, meeting a feminist slash astrophysicist from NASA, and being told by the administration at Westmere Elementary School that science would be nonexistent in my sister's COVID-19 remote curriculum. Making the storyboard itself was not too time-consuming. I think I spent enough time on the storyboard, but could have spent more time working on the written accompaniement I provided for it. The short paper told the story in a written format to clear up confusion that the Storyboard That may have caused. Unfortunately, I think I should have made it more thorough so that a reader could truly understand how I got inspired to create my EMC project. Next time, I would avoid visual formats and use written storytelling to its full extent. I think visuals are good to accompany text, but not take the place of it. I would also be more narrow with my scope. Having three places depicted really complicated the story I was trying to tell. Storytelling is more impactful when it is focused on a single moment, emotion, etc. My storytelling and communication skills were ok. I think I got a point across - many experiences compounded to make me so passionate asbout closing the STEM gap. I found it hard to focus in on something or share the whole story without boring people to death. That is something I'll need to work on.

Post #7 - October 9th Journal

Topic:

STEM Literacy in the United States

What?

Many schools across America do not have the resources to support quality STEM education, which will hurt American innovation, progress, and security as more jobs require skills that can only be taught through STEM curricula.

So What?

Wealthier students will outperform socioeconomically disadvantaged students in the same school despite being promised the same opportunities for education. According to the Hechinger Report, only 20 percent of the variation in student performance in math and science is between schools. The remaining 80 percent is inside each school. As evidenced by the PISA 2018 test scores in math, the United States remains below the international average. Furthermore, performance in math hasn’t changed much since the first PISA tests in 2000. This means that STEM education is plateauing, not improving. That is very important to understand. Although President Obama and President Trump have emphasized the importance of STEM education and the STEM workforce in the future success of the United States, individual states aren't doing enough. Math isn't being emphasized and science curricula gets thrown out the window when times get tough. I was appalled when my sister's principal told me a few months ago that students wouldn't be receiving any science instruction in school for the rest of the year. My sister has not had any science classes in schools as of now either. STEM proficiency is largely based of of teacher quality and opportunity to engage in hands on learning. Textbook teaching does not provide students with the critical thinking and problem solving skills they will need foor future professions.

Now What?

The U.S. News Report asserts that a “lack of STEM access is a critical equity issue in education, particularly for students in urban and rural communities.” This is in reference to students living in “STEM deserts,” devoid of exposure to rigorous STEM courses. Furthermore, poorer schools can’t find qualified STEM teachers or offer AP courses to their students who are interested in it. The U.S. News Report took the liberty of comparing two southeast Arizona schools: Buena High School and Tombstone High School. In their 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, Buena reported that 41% of students were proficient or highly proficient in math. However, Tombstone reported only 19%. These two schools are in close proximity, but their socioeconomic difference creates a huge gap in STEM literacy. A survey done by the American Association for the Advancement of Science found that just 16% of Americans called U.S. K-12 STEM education the best or above average; 46%, in contrast, said K-12 STEM in the U.S. was below average.Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills at OECD, hypothesizes that the common practice of “tracking” or separating students into classes of different levels is to blame. Obviously each individual case is different, but I truly don't believe a country like the United States should have STEM deserts. We need to do more to ensure baseline STEM education is prioritized within every state.

Post #8 - October 20th Journal

The problem that has emerged for me to tackle in my SDA is the lack of uniformity in STEM education across states. Every state has its own standards. I wonder if that somehow contributes to the STEM gap within schools as well. For my SDA, I want to look at specific states. Which ones are doing the best in STEM scores and why? After acquiring that information, I want to make a map of the United States to visually understand what states are doing poorly. I might be able to find patterns based on location, poverty rates, etc. I am also curious to see if there are any model states — ones that other states should follow to propel STEM literacy rates in the US. I might print out a diagram of the United States and color-code while keeping note of patterns and important information concerning various states. This could be done on poster paper, or be turned into a flip chart. I hope to target creativity and critical thinking. I will make my product visually appealing, but also include personal analysis of my “data.” Next month, I hope to contact our school’s STEM administrator to get her insight on the reasons behind STEM literacy discrepancies between states. I might also ask her about NYS’s current situation and plans for the future. I am looking forward to coloring the map of the US. I am very curious to see where low performing states are congregated, and what such states have in common. I am dreading putting the visual together. I am trying to focus my SDA so that people know what they are getting from it. I will prioritize simplicity, and use this SDA go guide my future questions.

Post #9 - October SDA Reflection

I really enjoyed the freedom given to me during this project. When brainstorming for my SDA, I didn’t feel tied down by anything. My previous research and topic guided my thought process and eventually my final product. Some positives were that I got the opportunity to delve into a problem. I hypothesized a potential cause for differences in STEM literacy among states by using data from a reputable source to visually represent state budgets as compared to STEM proficiency. Money being put towards STEM seemed like it would be a big factor in determining how literate a population of students is. However, it didn’t turn out to be that way. This challenged the assumptions that I had made about the relationship between money and education. I didn’t find any negatives, I feel like this assignment fulfilled its purpose and gave me a starting point for November. I dedicated a lot of time researching to find the data and background surrounding this assignment. The actual product was a lot faster to do. Finding the correlation coefficient for values attributed to fifty states took a hefty amount of time. However, I needed math to help me make sense of all the numbers flooding my screen. I discovered that there are problems more important than the economics of a particular state that dictate its STEM outcomes. For example, Missouri attained an A grade in STEM proficiency while only spending 30% of its state resources on education.

The most important thing I realized is that that STEM literacy rates can’t be due to an individual factor. Many things influence STEM outcomes. I think my next goal is to find model states that prove beneficial STEM outcomes can be achieved even without spending all of your resources on it. When it comes to identifying a problem, I learned that you always need evidence. I can’t just say that STEM deserts exist because some states don’t have sufficient access to STEM. A problem needs to be supported by a reputable source. Without such a source, my claims can’t be taken seriously. I am proud of my organization. I broke my SDA into three parts. One is where I analyzed patterns shown through STEM proficiency grades of different states. In the second one, I looked at state spending on education. This showed me just how different each part of the United States is from another. I need to work on expanding my sources. I do a lot of research but I don’t represent that much in my SDAs. I think it would be helpful to connect every piece of new knowledge I acquire to the source it came from. This will also help me look back for clarification if I need it. I can use this information to transition to my new essential question: what states in the US have achieved stellar STEM outcomes and why?

Post #10 - November 13th Journal

Last month, I tested my hypothesis that state education spending directly correlates with STEM outcomes. However, I realized that the cause of STEM deserts is due to a myriad of factors. Now I am wondering how the most successful states approach STEM education. I am using my resources to think about how best to measure a “successful” state. One of the more promising metrics that I think I might use, is a state’s number of matriculation into post secondary education and STEM degrees, especially for traditionally underrepresented groups. I am currently exploring an analysis done by Seton Hall called “A State By-State Analysis of STEM Education for K-12 Public Schools.” I am also reading an article published in the International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology that modelled successful STEM high schools in the United States. After this, I have more resources ready to go specifically on the topic of how to improve STEM education and best practices.

The first thing that was of great interest to is President Obama’s “Race to the Top” initiative. He basically let states apply for a grant to further education programs in order to “help students outcompete workers around the world, but let them fulfill their God-given potential” (Carmichael 2016). STEM education was identified as a major competitive funding priority as states began to realize its necessity. Only four states never applied for this funding at all: Alaska, North Dakota, Texas, and Vermont (Carmichael 2016). Once receiving this grant, Ohio allocated $13 million to establish STEM schools and programs. One line in the analysis done by Seton Hall made a profound impact on me. It was that STEM education was “originally designed to encourage students to pursue careers in these areas, but has evolved into a unique approach to teaching and learning that fosters creativity and innovative thinking in all students” (Carmichael 2016). I am currently in the process of reading through every individual state’s approach to STEM education outlined in Seton Hall’s analysis. This information helped me establish the background of STEM education for states in the U.S. All states are making their own decisions based on some sort of federal funding and guidelines. This will inform me looking at their specific approaches in the near future. I looked at the paper about successful STEM schools because I wanted to know more about metrics to measure success in STEM. In the study, students in “15 out of the 16 schools conducted research with a faculty member or mentor (Erdogen 2015). Furthermore, “the average number of science courses offered offered by these schools was 34 and the average number of mathematics courses was 21” (Erdogen 2015). It was asserted in Erdogen’s paper that successful STEM schools should help students develop positive intellectual habits that lead to skills like “creative thinking, problem solving, leadership, and innovation.” The paper goes on to outline nine criteria that defines a successful STEM school. I hope to apply this information to evaluate states overall.

Works Cited:

1. Carmichael, Courtney C. “A State-By-State Policy Analysis of STEM Education for K-12 Public Schools.” ProQuest LLC, ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web Site: Http://Www.proquest.com/En-US/Products/Dissertations/Individuals.shtml, 30 Nov. 2016, eric.ed.gov/?id=ED576937.

2. Erdogan, Niyazi, and Carol L. Stuessy. “Modeling Successful STEM High Schools in the United States: An Ecology Framework.” International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, vol. 3, no. 1, 2015, p. 77., doi:10.18404/ijemst.85245.

Post #11 - November 20th Journal

Last week, I began to research the state of STEM education standards across different states in America. I also looked to understand how success in education is measured. This week, I got to interview Guilderland High School's math and science administrator, Mrs. Anderson. I have spoken to her in the past, so we were able to engage in a meaningful and productive conversation right away. I built off last week's essential question by asking her about NYS STEM standards, how successful they are compared to other states, and how the metric of success is evaluated. She was able to inform me that NYS is currently in the process of transitioning from Common Core Standards to the new NextGen Standards for math and science. The Next Gen Standards for science in particular were created through the National Science Foundation's partnership with other country-wide STEM groups. Mrs. Anderson also explained that in the past, NYS had prioritized math and English instruction over that of other subjects. Now, the Next Gen Standards allow subjects to become more interdisciplinary. Instead of engaging in rote memorization for a Regents exam, students will learn the basics and be tasked with understanding how to apply them to real-life processes. This means that in a class like biology, instead of learning about a cell and its parts, students will understand why cells are important and why we need them. NYS wants to see students learn how concepts apply across different topics. Therefore, the instruction of subjects must change as well.

Now, teachers must switch from siloing (learning different units and never connecting them) to revisiting material all year long. This requires teachers to cease traditional lecturing and move towards and student-more inquiry and a student-led exploration of topics. However, this type of learning doesn't lend itself well to multiple-choice tests. The Regents may not accommodate the new standards fast enough, and that could actually hurt students using the new approach. Mrs. Anderson continued to tell me that NYS's STEM requirements to graduate are way more stringent than other states. California, Massachusetts, and NY typically have the most demanding STEM graduation requirements. She said that our exams are harder than in other states such as Florida as well. In terms of measuring success in education, Mrs. Anderson said that school report cards are used.

These reports are created primarily based on test performance and aggregate performance, with teachers being evaluated based on the performance of students on tests. She added that where students end up after high school (employed or college) and what advanced degrees they get are tracked as well. The entire reason that schools create this report card in the first place is to get funding from the state. If NYS didn't make its schools track this information, it would get no money from the federal government. If Guilderland High School didn't track this information, we wouldn't get any funding from NYS. The purpose of the school report card is to make sure that schools are making progress towards proficiency even if they aren't quite there yet. Mrs. Anderson acknowledged that Guilderland is a high performing school district, but thinks that we need to focus on the population who we miss. Some much time and energy is spent on honors students and those with special needs, but we miss those in middle. We need to do more to help the average students who fly by, but who struggle academically while not qualifying for any extra help.

Post #12 - December SDA Reflection

My thoughts about this month's SDA have been generally positive. Regardless of the writing I came up with, I learned a lot. I know so much more about the state of STEM in schools than I did even a month ago. I have also come to understand the complex reasons why new standards like the Next Generation Science Standards take so long to be implemented. I have begun to see education from the educator's point of view. I do believe that I conveyed a "So What." My "So What" was that our future STEM professionals wouldn't be able to speak a common language if STEM isn't taught in a standardized way. This will impede on our country's standard of life and possibility for innovation. I dedicated a good six hours or so to this assignment. I read many proposals leading up to making this assignment. I did this mostly to establish the format and tone I wanted to use in my own product. I think I definetely could have spent more time editing and revising the paper. That means that I need to devote more attention to the actual writing rather than the stylistic elements.

I think that I am improving upon my skills of collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. I interviewed Mrs.Anderson, the math and science administrator at my school, and she really gave good insight as to what I should be looking for when researching the NGSS standards. I needed to be able to communicate my ideas in this proposal tersely and effectively. I wanted to be clear and to the point. Critical thinking played in during my research for this project. I needed to pick the strongest reasons for why the NGSS should become a part of a national curriculum. I thought critically about the consequences of such an event taking place, and why it would harm us to not have it happen. The most important thing I learned was that change takes time. California recently had its first science test following the adoption of the new science standards. People did much worse than they had on previous tests. The difference between minority students and privileged students became abundantly clear. The NGSS make learning harder for sure. It will take a lot of time for us to truly help every member of our community get to that level of learning.

The vital sources I used were the NGSS's official website and a US News article on STEM Deserts. These two sources discussed completely different things, but they seemed very interconnected in my mind. I began to understand how much it would help traditional "STEM Deserts" to ditch AP classes and move to an inquiry-based approach. I know this is something Emma Willard is planning to do. I think it is more equitable. Minority students wouldn't have to prepare for an exam based on rote-memorization without access to the countless resources that more priviledged students have. I am proud of how I incorporated facts and statistics into my proposal. I think they flowed well and really provided evidence for my claims well.

I need to work on my argumentative writing. I am too scared to be firm in my writing because it is hard for me to argue just one side in a matter. I need to work on using persuasive language to make a greater impact on the reader of my work. I can use the informaiton I learned this month to guide my exploration of organizations and corporations that are trying to contribute to new STEM teaching methods. I can now evaluate them with more knowledge and the ability to compare their views to the NGSS. I think I tapped into Level 3 of the Webb's Depth of Knowledge rubric. I used good logical reasoning skills and implemented evidence well. I reasoned to push for STEM standards by explaining why the NGSS are unique and different from any other set of standards out there. I think I also used good diction to convey the potential of these standards.

Post #13 - Midterm Journal Post 1

Post #14 - Midterm Journal Post 2

Post #15 - Midterm Journal Post 3

Post #16 - Midterm Reflection

Prior to this midterm, I had read quite a few scholarly articles. I did this mainly for my work in a lab at Albany Medical College that I volunteer for, as well as a neuroscience journal club that I am a part of. Reading scholarly articles required me to really consider the authors of the text. I looked into who was conducting the research and for what reason. Much of the language used was familiar to me but the data was impossible to interpret. I concentrated my attention more towards the discussion at the end of papers than the results themselves. I found it really easy to get information from scholarly articles if you know what you're looking for. I didn't need to scan through endless branches of research. Being limited to scholarly articles boosted my progress, curiosity, and research skills. I really got to pick apart the work of a particular researcher and identify its strengths and weaknesses. My analytical focus was specific and therefore easier to digest for both my audience and myself. I approached searching databases with a list of keywords in mind. I wrote down a bunch of synonyms to key phrases in my research question, and used them as possible options. It took a while, but I eventually found the correct words that gave me the type of scholarly articles I was searching for. I realized during the process that the scholarly articles I found could impact my research question. I was so captured by some of the papers I stumbled upon that my research question changed from looking at STEM to computer science, and focusing on high school students to elementary school students. When it comes to reading scholarly articles, I always find the experiment itself to be interesting. Whether it be having students play computer games or watching senior citizens try health devices, experiments are fascinating. I get inspired by the processes researchers use to get unique data. They always think things out well and communicate that to their scholarly readers.

My midterm SDA was overall a rewarding experience. The most challenging part was deciding what to leave out. I had accumulated so much information over the course of my midterm that it was difficult to choose what exactly I wanted to communicate to my audience. It took some time to find my purpose. The essential question I began with was: to what extent does a computer science curriculum contribute to the goals of primary schools? I don't believe my research question was completely answered, but that's not what I was expecting. Instead of coming out with a firm dialogue, I came out with options. Game-based learning or game-design learning? I realized that anything can work in a primary school curriculum if it's designed to do so. No one can deny the applicability of computer science, but how can we implement it so that other subjects don't lose time? I met my goal by creating an audio visual SDA product - something I wanted to do for a while. I am proud of how it came out - I think Prezi Video was incredibly useful and allowed me to put just enough words on the screen while keeping my own presence as the main focus. Although my SDA's organization could have been better, I think that it has the potential to instill in a viewer newfound curiosity for a youth-directed computer science curriculum. I did my job by asserting the importance of teaching STEM early on and even analyzed some options. I'd say my strongest C is curiosity. This SDA was a result of my desire to answer a question. I let my curiosity guide me in choosing scholarly articles to read and in prioritizing a topic to showcase. I am personally curious about game-design learning thanks to prior experiences with it, so that really pushed me to shed light on it. My weakest C is probably critical thinking. Sometimes I do go deeper than surface level thinking, but not consistently. I know that it is something I will work on into college and beyond. I want to be able to see past the things I'm reading. I want to be able to understand my perspective and connect the dots in my own way. I began to do that by comparing the benefits and drawbacks of game-design and game-based learning, but I could have gone further. I will use my lessons from this midterm to be more flexible next month. I don't need to marry a certain research question or a solid way of thinking. I can be creative by being open-minded, by being free. Going into March, I'm not entirely sure what my new focus will be. I am considering taking a deeper dive at game-design learning: possibly even trying it myself. I prefer it over game-based learning, but I need to understand its weaknesses to be able to advocate for it in any substantial way.

Post #17 - March 3rd Post

Following my midterm, I was left with a desire to explore game design learning further. It seemed to be the method of teaching most relevant to computer science overall. I further believe that it could help students become better learners in other subjects. There is no replica for the creativity and critical thinking involved in applying computer science concepts to make your own product. As entrepreneurship rises to fame in the modern world, primary school students should experience it early. My new essential question is this: should game design learning be something that primary schools invest money into? Any type of education requires funds - I seek to understand if game design learning is deserving of the allocation.

I plan to go back into the Gale Database for literature on game design learning in particular. I wonder about experiments done in the past and what their outcomes are. I want to know more about the specifics of game design learning and what applications, besides Scratch, are applicable to primary school children. I will also use Google Scholar and reputable news articles to get society’s viewpoint on the matter. Its important to listen to various stakeholders - not just researchers. If parents, teachers, and administrators don’t see the value in game design learning, you can’t implement it. I have also taken an Intro to Game Design course at my high school, so I may reach out to my teacher again to get her input on the matter.

Essential Question:

Should game design learning be something that primary schools invest money into?

5 Vital Sub-Questions:

What is the goal of game-design learning?

What reservations do people have about game design learning?

What applications have been used to teach game-design?

What qualifications do teachers need to teach game-design?

Does game design learning require too many resources?

Post #18 - March 10th Post

Essential question:

Should game design learning be something that US schools invest money into? (Note, I have expanded my question since the last post to focus on all schools in the United States instead of just primary schools)

Changed to a claim after reading reputable sources:

For game-design learning to be implemented in schools, it must be adapted to cater towards a wide variety of learners and teaching models.

Gathering background information:

I began my research by reading a report published in the Journal of Computing and Information Systems. This report looked at several aspects of game-design learning and its approaches (Ayub, 48). It argued that game design is a promising avenue due to the copious amount of time children nowadays play video games. It has been proven that these computer games capture the attention of their young audience - this they can trigger deep learning while being fun (Ayub, 48). Game design can also be very adaptive, meaning that it can change according to a learner’s needs (Ayub, 48). This is very important to our modern climate as students fall across the spectrum in terms of ability. The report emphasizes that allowing students to make computer games would teach them computer programming skills and mathematical uses (Ayub, 49). This is interesting because game design learning can take something that students find useless (math), and put some entertainment and creative value behind it. The report made a fascinating point by claiming that students could feel a sense of belonging through being able to input objects into their game that they associate with themselves (Ayub, 49). This would be a rather novel approach to boosting student morale and mental health. Game design learning seems to be very outcome-based, meaning that it teaches something specific to its target audience (Ayub, 49). This holds true for students as well; it is asserted thats students should set learning objectives when designing a game as well (Ayub, 51). This report introduced various game development tools that I was not aware of before. For example, the Game Development Tool is an application developed to help users without prior knowledge in programming (Ayub, 49). The report then analyzes various game design tools, emphasizing the aspects of an interactive interface, high level of sophistication, and good support as being ket to good applications (Ayub, 50). I could see that each game design tool that was discussed was built for a specific purpose: either for beginners or advanced developers, for more creative or less creative people. If game design learning was to be taught in schools, an application would have to be carefully chosen to support as wide of a variety of people as possible. This is important to understand from an educator’s point of view - they can’t leave any learner behind.

The next reading that I tackled was a paper that was presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences. This paper explores students’ motivational orientation and active program work in relation to their learning outcomes, in the context of a guided discovery-based curriculum in which students and educators co-learn game design (Reynolds, 1). This has a huge practical impact as it is important consider your stakeholders: students and educators being some of the biggest. This paper heavily supports student self-learning. It argues that the level of autonomy afforded by a given environment, and the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientation of individuals play vital roles in their experience and fulfillment (Reynolds, 1). Following their experiment involving secondary school students and teachers, the authors of this paper came to fascinating conclusions. They found that a guided discovery based approach to game design heavily supported people with high intrinsic motivation (Reynolds, 4). They also highlighted the need to find students who may require more guidance and structure (Reynolds, 5). This is important because accounting for everyone could require a lot more human capital - especially on the part of teachers.

Works Cited

Ayub, Mohamad Nizam. "Conceptual view on exploring learning via game design." Computing and Information Systems, vol. 13, no. 3, 2009, p. 48+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A471554897/AONE?u=nysl_ce_syr&sid=AONE&xid=2b346387. Accessed 9 Mar. 2021.

Reynolds, Rebecca and Chiu, Ming Ming, Contribution of Motivational Orientations to Student Outcomes in a Discovery-Based Program of Game Design Learning (2012). International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), July 2012 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2333922

Post #19 - March 17th Post

This week, I furthered my quest to build an argument around my claim: for game-design learning to be implemented in schools, it must be adapted to cater towards a wide variety of learners and teaching models. I decided to hone in on two sub-questions in particular. The first is the question of what qualifications teachers need in order to teach game design. Teachers play a big role in getting information and promoting engagement from students. Whether game design can be useful for everyone can be decided in part by the teacher. However, it is rather unclear as to what the teacher’s role is in a game design setting. Some students prefer a self-guided approach while others require the assistance and support of their educators. It is also important to consider whether a math teacher could lead a game design course or whether you would require someone who is heavily trained in computer science. My next sub question is about the resources required to teach game design. Is it reasonable to expect schools to have these materials? This is an essential part of my research as game design is not simply something that can be done on pen and paper. It will require teacher capital as well as technological resources. Catering to a wide variety of learners includes those who don’t live in privileged situations.

The first source that I turned to further my research was a real study of 5th graders in a game design environment. This is the first time that I have been exposed to game design in action, so it proved to be highly valuable. The study itself investigated how children designed computer games as artifacts that reflected their understanding of nutrition (Baytak et al, 84). Ten 5th grade students were asked to design computer games with the software Game Maker for the purpose of teaching 1st graders about nutrition (Baytak et al, 84). The researchers in this study took the approach of ”constructionism.” This is to say that they believed learning is most meaningful when students are the builders of their own knowledge (Baytak et al, 84). They designed their experiment to allow students to utilize their cultural knowledge and create something that can be shared with others. Constructionism emphasizes the social nature of learning to promote collaboration and sharing (Baytak et al, 85). This means that students can try each others’ designs and leave feedback or incorporate some ideas for their own design (Baytak et al, 85). By the end of the study, the researchers concluded that the students’ games reflected substantial progress in terms of students’ design skills over a short time (Baytak et al, 90). Also important is the fact that some of the girls continued to design computer games in after-school activities after the project ended (Baytak et al, 91). This is important because females are traditionally underrepresented in computer science, and game design learning has the potential to sway more of them.

The source I sought out for a counter argument asserts that incorporating game design into education settings requires teachers to orchestrate a myriad of complex organizational resources (Marklund et al, 1). The researchers point out that traditional research has failed to look at game design in its educational context and its impact on teachers. The paper specifically focused on examining the roles that teachers need to take on when implementing and using computer games in their classroom activities (Marklund et al, 2). They did this by conducting two case studies during two five month long projects where the researchers collaborated with K-12 teachers to integrate a commercially available educational game intended for classroom use, MinecraftEdu, into their curriculum (Marklund et al, 2). They immediately found that classroom gaming required the teacher to be versatile as they both need to carry out the necessary preparations before gaming sessions, but also act as game administrators during them (Marklund et al, 6). The researchers also highlighted the fact that the students had a wide variety of ability levels. Tutoring novice students in how to play the game, as well as aiding the proficient students in directing their gaming expertise towards solving assignments, was arguably the most time-consuming responsibility for the teachers during the game-based exercises (Marklund et al, 7). This study made a fine argument. We can not burden teachers with the responsibility of challenging proficient students while aiding novices. We can’t expect them to single handedly consider every aspect of their schedules to design a game design curriculum that is student-run. My previous article emphasized the value of students being self-guided, but it seems that it isn’t always possible for that to happen. I left this paper with a deep consideration of how we can take the weight off a teacher’s shoulders without piling the amount of resources that we need.

I personally have firsthand experience with game design. I took a game design course in freshman year, as someone who isn’t highly apt with computers or video games. I chose to take the elective despite having no companions in the class because I wanted to exercise my creativity and create something new. Although I don’t want to pursue a career in computer science or game design, I got something valuable out of the class. I left feeling grateful that I decided to sign up. The class was a mix of self-direction and teacher-guided training. I learned a variety of skills that I later employed into creating my own game. The experience gave me a lot of confidence when it came to proposing new ideas and problem-solving on my own. By the end, I felt capable and proud of my work. Although I didn’t use direct computer programming, I began to understand how commands worked and became well versed on how to use the internet to troubleshoot. This is why I am especially interested to see what people would get from the class if it wasn’t an elective, but rather a required course in order to graduate.

To craft an argument that will analyze and not just summarize my claim will require taking the time to consider the research I have done, and look for something. I should look for something that connects to my earlier investigations, or something that shocked me and caused me to think deeper. My audience can be convinced to change their position if I make a logical argument — one backed by evidence and a line of reasoning that is shocking yet simple. It should be something equivalent to a newspaper article that captures its audience quickly, and leaves them in a state of ponderance. I’m intrigued by the possibility of creating a mini-newspaper of some sort for my SDA. Visual media has a fascinating ability to touch the minds of its audience and make them feel connected to the subject matter. Conversely, I’d feel impassioned about writing an editorial of some sort with exciting language and a subtle call to action.

Works Cited

Baytak, A., Land, S. M., & Smith, B. K. (2011). Children as educational computer game designers: An Exploratory study. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 10(4), 84–92.

Marklund, B.B. & Alklind Taylor, Anna-Sofia. (2016). Educational games in practice: The challenges involved in conducting a game-based curriculum. 14. 121-135.

Post #20 - April 13th Post

Following my March SDA, I feel quite confident moving towards my symposium speech. Getting to argue for a side in the game-design learning debate from the point of view of a journalist was both challenging and rewarding. Now I am left with a few lingering questions. If a game design class was to be made mandatory in every school across the United States, would students not interested in technology be able to benefit from it? This question came to my attention during my chat with Mrs. Peschieri who voiced her concerns over more artistic students being disconnected from game design. Another question that remains in my mind is how the Next Gen Science Standards can play into or fit with a possible game design approach. I did a lot of research on these new standards in the past, but never through the lens of computer science. Finally, I wonder about the feasibility of putting all types of students through the same level STEM course. Although Mrs.Peschieri believes that her role is simply to guide students when they'e struggling, not all teachers will think that way. I do believe that her method of setting everyone up with the same basic game design and letting them experiment from there is a viable pedagogy. I want to utilize my symposium speech to raise awareness for the stagnant computer science standards in our country and motivate people to support change in the form of game design learning. I imagine that this would require me proving to them that game design learning is worth the time for every student, and not just techies. I will remember that my audience with this speech is fellow students, parents, and educators. It needs to be geared somewhat to our own school and be accessible within the context of our community.

Post #21 - April 21st Post

The big idea for my symposium speech is that game design learning should become a part of school curriculum. This action is necessary to improve standards that haven't been modified for decades and prepare students entering the workforce in the age of technology. My idea is new - game design learning has been taught almost exclusively as an elective that typically attracts mostly video game obsessed males. Game design has not been given much attention as a vehicle to advance critical thinking and creativity. The whole idea of video games has been seen as malicious and irrelevant by school administrators without acknowledging that the development of these games could provide a true challenge to students. People might have never head about game design being used as a pedagogy for computer science. I think my assertion that game design training should be required will come as a shock to them as well. They probably haven't considered the applicability of game design to school curriculum or student development. Not many girls find themselves in game design classes, so this suggestion coming from one will make it more powerful. The concept of game design learning itself is fascinating; there are well established platforms that students can use to construct games and play them on their phones or other devices. An artist can create a game just as unique as a math lover. The interdisciplinary nature of game design makes it that much more interesting and powerful - a point that won't be lost on a diverse audience. I plan to build this argument with a host of nonnegotiable facts and logical statements in order to push the audience's favor in my direction. My hook will be build a sense of urgency in the audience by highlighting the stagnant nature of STEM learning overall in our schools. By comparing the standards in the far past to those that exist now, I hope to that the audience will be keen on supporting change.