Resumen de Modifying games with ChoiCo: Integrated affordances and engineered bugs for computational thinking

Chronis Kynigos, Marianthi Grizioti

• Abstract Although there is wide rhetoric that programming should be learnt by all as an element of computational thinking (CT), in practice, it is mostly implemented narrowly as an end in itself consisting of routine practice and traditional testing of the ability to code. This paper discusses a way in which programming could be seen through a wider integrated pedagogical approach as jointly cultivating meaning making of computational concepts in conjunction with the adoption of practices and strategies in a relevant meaningful context for learners. We elaborate on a case of learning to code through digital game modding where programming and other computational concepts coexist. Our design frame includes the principles of black and white box designs, of students as de-buggers of engineered half-baked games and of games embedding both concepts and values in simulations involving wider contested complex issues. We use our analysis of the meaning making of students as they debug a choice-driven simulation game specially designed to bring this integrated kind of learning to the fore. We show elements of context-aware integrated CT connecting otherwise fragmented areas such as databases, block-based programming, Geographical Information Systems design.