Games+Learning+Society 10 Conference

Inquiry and Learning through Mobile Game Design
Chris Holden, Owen Gottlieb, Kim Long, Edge Quintanilla, David Leach, Alainya Kavaloski, Susan Lynch, David Gagnon

They say if it takes a lot of learning to play a game, it takes much more to make a game. This basic premise underlies many programs to teach through game design. What is perhaps less common is to situate design experiences within other meaningful contexts. But over the past few years this is just what many groups and teachers have been doing with ARIS. They typically establish modes of inquiry, usually around a local place or conceptual framework, and have their students engage in locative game design as a way of becoming involved in that context. In this panel discussion, some of these educators will share their experiences and describe how situating mobile game design is having a positive effect in their classrooms and programs, giving students new routes to knowledge and helping them to develop their interests.