A designerly approach as a foundation for school children's computational thinking skills while developing digital games

Abstract

This paper contributes to the contemporary debate on the increasing use of computational thinking (CT) in primary schools. It is based on an empirical study in which 28 Swedish third-grade school children (9-10 years of age) participated in a creative workshop where they were challenged to design a digital game using stop-motion film technique, working in groups. The study applies a designerly approach to game design activities to investigate what aspects of computational skills can be identified when children employ stop motion filmmaking as a means to envision a digital game design idea and how a designerly approach can enable them to enact dimensions of their computational skills? The data included video observations, casual conversations, and stop-motion videos representing the children's game design ideas. The analysis identified three aspects of computational thinking strategies while children produced stop-motion films: step-by-step procedural skills; design and arrangement skills; and computational perspectives.