Design And Application Of Game Creation Learning Activities For The Development Of Computational Thinking

In the digital era,goal-oriented programming education based on computational thinking in primary and secondary schools is becoming increasingly important as a critical measure for countries to cultivate innovative scientific and technological talents and enhance international competitiveness.Although some achievements have been made in research and practice related to programming education in primary and secondary schools in China,there are still practical teaching problems,such as dull activity content,dislocation of activity subjects,and rigid activity processes,which restrict the effective play of its computational thinking cultivation function.To solve these problems,a learning activity with game creation as the core task has emerged in the programming classroom of primary and secondary schools,becoming a new exploration to develop students’ computational thinking.A comparative analysis of relevant research at home and abroad shows that the domestic academic community has paid attention to the research topic of "programming learning based on game creation." However,due to the small number of studies and the single research method,there must be more design models and cases for game-creation learning activities that frontline educators can reference.How to effectively design game creation learning activities in programming teaching is still a key research issue.In this context,this study is committed to integrating game-creation-based learning concepts and methods into programming education and teaching in primary and secondary schools and designing game-creation learning activities to develop computational thinking.For this purpose,this study first discriminates and analyzes core concepts such as computational thinking,gamebased learning,and learning activities,summarizes research on computational thinking teaching and game-based learning,and summarizes learning activity-centered instructional design theory,immersion theory,and scaffolding teaching theory to form a theoretical foundation for research.Subsequently,the design principles and process of game-creation learning activities are proposed based on the theoretical foundation.A game-creation learning activity model oriented to developing computational thinking is constructed.The design and implementation points of the five sub-activities in the model,namely "experience analysis,pairing and adaptation,creative design,development iteration,and internal and external evaluation," are emphatically introduced,aiming at both "process" and "content" levels,Provide process and method guidance for the design of game creation learning activities oriented to the development of computational thinking.Finally,based on the teaching situation in the programming class of senior primary school students,the design process and activity model proposed in this study were applied to develop an 8-hour game creation learning activity case.In order to test the feasibility and effectiveness of the game creation learning activity designed for the development of computational thinking,this study conducted an 8-week teaching practice and a controlled experimental study in a primary school in S City.The experimental group participated in the game creation learning activity designed in this study,while the control group participated in the teaching activity of speaking and practicing programming.After completing the experimental process,including the pre-test,teaching experiment,and post-test,compare and analyze the learning results of the two groups of students to explore the implementation effect of game creation learning activities.The results of experimental data analysis indicate that the gamecreation learning activities designed in this study for the development of computational thinking are feasible and effective,specifically manifested in the following aspects: 1)Game-creation learning activities effectively promote the development of students’ computational thinking.The overall development level of computational thinking in the experimental group was significantly higher than in the control group.Specifically,game-creation learning activities significantly impact the development of students’ collaborative skills,algorithmic thinking,and critical thinking.However,their impact on the development of students’ creativity and problem-solving abilities is limited.In addition,this study found that students of different genders can develop computational thinking through game-creation learning activities,and there is no significant difference.2)Game creation learning activities effectively promote improving students’ programming skills.The initial programming abilities of the two groups of students are similar.However,after completing the teaching experiment,the experimental group students have a deeper understanding and more skilled application of programming knowledge and skills.3)Students have a high degree of satisfaction with game-creation learning activities.As a constructivist learning activity,the game creation learning activity designed in this study meets the learning needs of students in terms of resource support,scaffolding,problem posing,results display,and collaborative exploration.However,there are significant areas for improvement in the design of evaluation and reflection,and game-creation learning activities still need to be modified and improved.