SGER: Storytelling Alice and Game Design in Middle School

Etr Associates, Watsonville CA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this SGER proposal is to collect preliminary data on whether the Storytelling Alice programming environment can be used by middle school students to create games in pairs, and whether it shows some potential for building fluency with information technology (IT). Storytelling Alice is an object-oriented programming system that appears to have great potential for engaging middle school children in programming, and for building IT fluency. In contrast to other game design software, it has features that lower the barriers for children to learn it, introduces programming concepts and capabilities, and has graphics and characters that are designed to appeal to children who are underrepresented in IT (e.g., girls) . Despite the intuitive appeal of this system, and its popularity among educators, there has been little research on how it can be used to program games, or the social factors involved. For this exploratory study, 40 middle school students in a predominantly Latino/a school district will create games in pairs, using Storytelling Alice. The teaching approach will build on the game development curriculum that has been developed and tested among middle school girls, using two other software systems. The study will include boys. Student data will include interviews, case study observations, performance assessments, and analysis of students' games.