The Studio K curriculum is designed to engage students in habits of mind germane to game design, as well as computational thinking. Utilizing Microsoft Kodu, students are encouraged to reflect on their own gaming experiences to decompose and analyze the reasons why games are fun, and then transfer those patterns to their own games. Given the increasing demand by companies, governments, and society for people who know how to think computationally (i.e. think critically, logically, and solve problems in innovative ways using computational tools), in order to be competitive in the knowledge economy (Wing, 2006; National Academy of Sciences, 2010), the Studio K curriculum uses the potential of game design to prepare youth with skills germane to computational thinking, and the so-called STEM disciplines whose practices heavily rest on computation (Games, 2010; Hayes and Games, 2008). This potential has been recognized by the White House’s efforts (White House, 2009) to support educational video game design, including national game design contests and supporting programs that teach computational thinking.
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