Designing computer-based learning games in teacher education
A cognitive constructionist approach to pedagogy

This project involves inquiry into the effectiveness of an approach to teacher preparation in a graduate level, Master of Arts in Teaching, course (EDUC 240) that employs research in cognition and learning in the design of computer-based learning games that support constructivist approaches to pedagogy.

Recent research in cognition and learning is changing the way that we think about how the mind functions, and this is having an influence on teacher preparation. Carl Bereiter (2002) lists at least five recent theories about how the mind works as information processing, cognitive psychology, situated cognition, social constructivism, and connectionism. In his view these new ways of looking at how the mind functions challenge traditional, what he calls “folk”, theories of the mind and call for a new approach to learning in the classroom: “The most promising new developments in education involve restructuring school activities and discourse so that they resemble the workings of research groups, where real questions are being investigated and students are trying to contribute to progress on those questions (p. 20).” This study will model this approach first in an MAT summer course where the graduate student novice teachers will read about and discuss some of these new approaches and then will apply this new knowledge to the design of computer-based learning games. They will work in collaborative groups and use online discussions to plan and reflect on their designs. They will be encouraged to ask questions and to predict the impact of the games on their students learning and to plan methods for determining the effectiveness of the games in meeting their stated goals.

The study will use qualitative methods (survey, observation, interview and text analysis) to address research questions such as: What aspects of research in cognition have relevance for students in the design of their computer-based learning games? To what extent do the computer-based learning games reflect the students’ stated design intentions vis-à-vis the theoretical construct(s) employed? And, how does novice teacher participation in the design and production of computer-based learning games strengthen their knowledge about content and pedagogy as well as learning theory? The study will commence in the summer of 2005 with a survey of students’ general knowledge about learning theory and experiences with, and beliefs and attitudes about, the use of computer-based learning tools in teaching. This will be followed by text analyses of the congruence between the students’ design rationale statements and the features of the games that are actually developed. Finally, some of the students will implement their games in the classroom during the academic year and these students will be observed and interviewed about the effectiveness of the computer-based learning games in teaching and learning. The interviews will include questions such as: Have the computer-based learning games been effective teaching and learning tools in your classroom either in the ways that you predicted, or in other ways, and what evidence do you have to support these beliefs? And, how have the theoretical constructs employed in the design of your computer-based learning game informed your design of other learning activities this year, and if so, what are they and how? These findings will be used to inform the design of future computer-based learning activities in teacher preparation at UCI.