Promoting student engagement in the design of digital games : The creation of games using a Toolkit to Game Design

Involving students in the creation of their own games about a theme may enhance the interest toward the addressed topic, a sense of ownership and a better understanding of the value of what is learned. This paper presents the application of a Toolkit to Game Design in two Game Creation sessions with upper-secondary students. The Toolkit was developed in the context of the Gamers4Nature project and includes resources and tools designed to enhance the active participation of the youngest audience in game creation activities, while promoting environmental preservation and biodiversity conservation. The Toolkit to Game Design was used in two Game Design sessions organized with upper-secondary students (n=28). By using the Toolkit, 10 functional prototypes of digital games were created. Students enhanced the Toolkit’s ease of use, mentioned that it was an engaging approach to game creation and that its use promoted a more active way to addressed the educational content and the programming activity. Preliminary results indicate that the Toolkit can be seen as an engaging approach to game creation, able to be adopted in different upper-secondary and higher education disciplines and fields.