Incorporation of game design in the classroom is becoming recognised more and more as an authentic and meaningful way of teaching students thinking skills. Game design tasks help students to develop and practise complex problem-solving skills and can increase teachers’ engagement with critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and provide a context for examining effective pedagogy around these issues.
As explored in several articles in this issue, game design can be a very motivating pedagogical tool for getting students engaged in learning. Recent research has shown that students at KS3 who developed games had more positive attitudes toward mathematics and had higher levels of intrinsic motivation and deep strategy compared to students who played games developed by others.
How can game design be incorporated into the classroom? From tools that are specific to the computing curriculum to innovative ways of connecting games to thinking and creative processes, there are lots of resources out there. This collection of apps and digital resources are some of the latest tools for introducing students to game design concepts or to help them refine their more advanced technical skills.
Tiny Tap (EYFS – KS2)
Tiny Tap is an app builder that empowers creativity and allows teachers, parents and children to create their own personalised learning apps and to play ones that have been developed by others who use the platform.