National Science Foundation (CreativeIT Award #1002901, Program, Wiki)

High School Sites: LEMA High School, LD5, LAUSD
Video Game Consultant: Jeannie Lee Novak, Founder, Kaleidospace, LLC d/b/a, Indiespace, Lead Author & Series Editor: Game Development Essentials

Advisory board members:
James Baker, Ph.D.
Lizabeth Fogel, Ph.D., Director of Education, The Walt Disney Company;
Terry Vendlinski, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, UCLA National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST);
Dain Olsen, Media Arts Instructor and Founder, ArtLAB Pilot School, LAUSD;
Luciano Nocera, Ph.D., Research Associate, USC Viterbi School of Engineering;

Please see the new Pedagogical Games Site for current information.

The goal of the proposed project is to develop and evaluate a fledgling secondary school curriculum for learning standards-based content via game-making. The project addresses the educational needs of at-risk high school students in underperforming schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The problems at the schools are many: lack of student engagement, graduations rates of 50% or below and dropout rates at 50% or above. The proposed evaluation will test the hypothesis that creating computer games (game-making) can engage students in learning standards-based content and significantly impact achievement and retention and that collaborative game design can be a powerful tool for encouraging open negotiation and argumentation, a core element in promoting creativity.

The project has two primary objectives:

• Embed STEM content into the curriculum and measure learning
• Promote effective reflection and collaboration

The intellectual merit of the proposed work includes the interdisciplinary and project-based approach to learning that encourages students to work together in a collaborative setting, and promotes differentiation of learning tasks and student-centered learning. The program is current and compelling, and has large potential to positively impact the education and lives of our at-risk student population. The results of the project will have broad societal impact by enhancing the ability of students from traditionally under-represented groups to participate in STEM fields of study. The project will also contribute to the knowledge base through careful empirical evaluation of the benefits of new instructional strategies that support learning styles and strategies preferred by students vulnerable to stereotype threat in mathematics learning. With the support of LAUD teachers and staff, we are poised to develop and integrate the program into the curriculum. Its success has the potential to transform learning strategies for at risk students.