| This study sought to extend research in the learning sciences primarily concerned with the nature of learning in context. It engaged 16 urban middle school students in a systems-thinking game design project where, through playing a game called Gamestar Mechanic, they design video games. The ability to think systemically is a critical and necessary skill in today's society as once local economic, social, political and environmental concerns have increasingly taken on global dimensions. Research in the growing new media and learning field shows that the design of video games imbed effective learning principles in highly motivating contexts. In recent years private foundations and government agencies have taken significant interest in this field as video games demonstrate the potential to teach skills necessary in the 21st century, such as systems-thinking, strategic problem solving and, interpretative analysis. Framed as an educational intervention, a design-based research approach was used to evaluate (1) the learning ecology activated by Gamestar Mechanic and (2) the potential of Gamestar Mechanic as a learning tool capable of facilitating systems-thinking skills. Post test scores and workshop work samples indicated promising results. Post test scores indicated that 5 of 6 participants of focus showed gains in systemic reasoning. Four demonstrated gains of .5 points on a scale of 0 to 4 and two demonstrated gains of 1 point, with five of the six showing overall mean scores of 3.1 or higher. In-workshop work samples showed that five of the six participants achieved systemic reasoning levels of 3.8 points or higher. Most significantly, three of the six participants moved from scoring at levels 0 to 2 of systemic reasoning skills to levels 3 to 4. This suggests that using Gamestar Mechanic, a video game designed to teach middle and high school-aged students game design skills, may serve to facilitate the development of systems-thinking skills. |
