Developing and Piloting a Game Design-Based Computer Science Curriculum

该项目以使用行业标准的游戏开发软件（Unity 3D）教授游戏设计和计算机编程为中心，旨在创建和实施中学计算机科学（CS）课程。该项目将涉及教师专业发展（PD）、教师与研究人员合作共同开发课程、研究和评估以了解设计和实施工作的结果。该项目将在社会经济地位低下和服务不足的中学进行，这些中学在CS教学方面充满了问题（例如，缺乏高质量的PD和教师），此外还要为CS劳动力中代表性不足的高需求学生提供服务。基于游戏设计对不同人群具有吸引力的计算机科学背景的吸引力，以及指导课程设计的教学方法，该项目将解决服务不足的学生学习计算机科学的需求，帮助克服计算机科学中的代表性问题。我们会就以下方面进行研究及评估：(a)课程发展；(b)教师发展及专业学习社群（PLC）；及(c)课程实施过程。首先，课程将建立在先前建立的理论和实践框架上，并将与教师共同创建。然而，这个项目的独特之处在于，工业中使用的游戏设计软件将取代基于块的工具。这将有助于建立直接的现实生活相关性和可重用的（语法）知识。从这种设计和执行中获得的知识将为未来的游戏设计工作提供指导，使其使用更先进的软件，具有工业和现实生活的可接受性和可移植性。其次，将收集数据来检查混合PD和PLC工作的有效性，并为未来的CS专业学习机会提供类似的广泛，结构化和嵌入工作的机会。第三，将从学生和教师那里收集数据，以了解设计、教师PD和课程实施之间的相互作用，从而了解在课程实施过程中，理论和设计如何导致CS和CS的教学内容知识。影响（或限制）课程使用的因素，以及服务不足人群在CS活动中的参与将是分析的核心。通过分析问卷调查、访谈、学生游戏、反思、学生对话和师生互动课堂视频的数据，收集数据以检查教师和学生的计算机科学知识和动机发展。该项目由CS for All项目资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Centered on teaching game-design and computer programming using industry-standard game-development software (Unity 3D), the project aims to create and implement a middle school computer science (CS) curriculum. The project will involve teacher professional development (PD), a collaboration between teachers and researchers to co-develop a curriculum, and research and evaluation to understand the outcomes from the design and implementation efforts. The project will take place in low socioeconomic status and underserved middle schools, which are fraught with issues when it comes to teaching CS (e.g., lack of high-quality PD and teachers) in addition to serving high-need students underrepresented in the CS workforce. Building on the appeal of game design as an attractive CS context for diverse populations, and the pedagogical approaches guiding the curriculum design, the project will address the needs of the underserved students in learning CS, helping overcome representation issues in CS.Research and evaluation will be conducted on the (a) curriculum development, (b) teacher PD and professional learning communities (PLC), and (c) curriculum implementation processes. First, the curriculum will be built on previously established theoretical and practical frameworks and will be co-created with teachers. Unique to this project, however, game-design software used in industry will be used instead of block-based tools. This will help establish direct real-life relevance and reusable (syntactic) knowledge. The knowledge gained from this design and implementation will inform future game-design efforts in using more advanced software with industry and real-life acceptance and transferability. Second, data will be collected to examine the effectiveness of the hybrid, ongoing PD, and PLC efforts, and inform future CS professional learning opportunities that are similarly extensive, structured, and job-embedded. Third, data will be collected from students and teachers to understand the interaction among the design, teacher PD, and curriculum implementation toward creating an understanding of how the theories and design lead to CS and pedagogical content knowledge of CS during the implementation of the curriculum. Factors contributing to (or limiting) the curriculum’s use, and participation of underserved populations in CS activities will be the core of the analyses. Data will be collected to examine CS knowledge and motivation development of teachers and students by analyzing data from surveys, interviews, student games, reflections, student-student conversations, and classroom videos on teacher-student interactions. This project is funded by the CS for All program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.