Kurt Squire

Sasha A. Barab

Over a decade ago the concept of "design experiments" was introduced because of the belief that many of questions could not be adequately addressed by laboratory-based experiments. Since then, design-based research as a term has grown in popularity and significance. The core manuscripts of this special issue respond to the questions: What constitutes design-based research? Why is it important? What are the methods to carry it out? At the end of this issue, two strong commentaries situate this work and challenge the community with new questions and issues that must be answered if design-based research is going to help advance work in ways that others judge as worthwhile and significant.

Clarifying the Terms. A Special Issue of the Journal of the Learning Sciences

Design-based Research

Designing games for learning: case studies show how to incorporate impact goals, build a team, and work with experts to create an effective game. Digital games for learning are now commonplace, used in settings that range from K–12 education to advanced medical training. In this book, Kurt Squire examines the ways that games make an impact on learning, investigating how designers and developers incorporate authentic social impact goals, build a team, and work with experts in order to make games that are effective and marketable. Because there is no one design process for making games for impact—specific processes arise in response to local needs and conditions—Squire presents a series of case studies that range from a small, playable game created by a few programmers and an artist to a multimillion-dollar project with funders, outside experts, and external constraints. These cases, drawn from the Games + Learning + Society Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, show designers tackling such key issues as choosing platforms, using data analytics to guide development, and designing for new markets. Although not a how-to guide, the book offers developers, researchers, and students real-world lessons in greenlighting a project, scaling up design teams, game-based assessment, and more. The final chapter examines the commercial development of an impact game in detail, describing the creation of an astronomy game, At Play in the Cosmos, that ships with an introductory college textbook.

Making Games for Impact

Constance Steinkuehler

Sasha Barab

This volume is the first reader on video games and learning of its kind. Covering game design, game culture and games as twenty-first-century pedagogy, it demonstrates the depth and breadth of scholarship on games and learning to date. The chapters represent some of the most influential thinkers, designers and writers in the emerging field of games and learning - including James Paul Gee, Soren Johnson, Eric Klopfer, Colleen Macklin, Thomas Malaby, Bonnie Nardi, David Sirlin and others. Together, their work functions both as an excellent introduction to the field of games and learning and as a powerful argument for the use of games in formal and informal learning environments in a digital age.

Kurt Squire

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