BEADED ADVENTURES

This paper describes the design principles guiding the creation of a versatile STEM education digital game, BeadED Adventures. Introducing the tangible aspect of tabletop games into a video game, BeadED Adventures is an interactive narrative where players solve STEM-based puzzles and make choices affecting the narrative plot by creating a tangible learning artifact: a string of beads that can be worn as a bracelet or used as a keychain, bookmark, etc. The game’s treatment of STEM subjects is intended to appeal to underrepresented youth who may be uninterested in these fields due to the way they are traditionally presented and represented. Following constructivist philosophies of learning and emphasizing player autonomy, the design of BeadED Adventures followed four main goals: to be engaging, to generate tangible learning artifacts, to encourage creativity, and to foster autonomy.Avariety of future studies are planned to investigate the impact of this tangible learning artifact.