Constructible Authentic Representations: Designing Video Games That Enable Players to Utilize Knowledge Developed In-Game to Reason about Science

Nathan R. Holbert; Uri Wilensky

Technology, Knowledge and Learning Vol. 19, No. 1 (July 2014) pp. 53–79

While video games have become a source of excitement for educational designers, creating informal game experiences that players can draw on when thinking and reasoning in non-game contexts has proved challenging. In this paper we present a design...

Challenges and Tradeoffs When Engaging Young Makers With Constructing for Others

Nathan Holbert; Sawaros Thanapornsangsuth; Marleen Villeroy

International Journal of Designs for Learning Vol. 8, No. 1 (Jun 24, 2017)

As makerspaces and fabrication labs enter schools as a means of motivating children to explore STEM fields, the lack of diversity in engineering and computing must be addressed. The Bots for Tots project explores the potential of leveraging deeper...

Language: English

Computational Thinking in Constructionist Video Games

David Weintrop; Nathan Holbert; Michael Horn; Uri Wilensky

International Journal of Game-Based Learning Vol. 6, No. 1 (January 2016) pp. 1–17

Video games offer an exciting opportunity for learners to engage in computational thinking in informal contexts. This paper describes a genre of learning environments called constructionist video games that are especially well suited for developing...

Sandboxes for Model-Based Inquiry

Corey Brady; Nathan Holbert; Firat Soylu; Michael Novak; Uri Wilensky

Journal of Science Education and Technology Vol. 24, No. 2 (April 2015) pp. 265–286

In this article, we introduce a class of constructionist learning environments that we call "Emergent Systems Sandboxes" ("ESSs"), which have served as a centerpiece of our recent work in developing curriculum to support scalable ...

Embodied Perspective Taking in Learning About Complex Systems

Firat Soylu; Nathan Holbert; Corey Brady; Uri Wilensky

Journal of Interactive Learning Research Vol. 28, No. 3 (July 2017) pp. 269–303

In this paper we present a learning design approach that leverages perspective-taking to help students learn about complex systems. We define perspective-taking as projecting one’s identity onto external entities (both animate and inanimate) in an...