Creative thinking in digital game design and development: A case study

In a case study on middle-school student educational game creation course in south central US state, the students' creative thinking process is investigated in order to understand perceptions of the digital design and programming involved in the game creation learning approach. Interviewing 12 students at with three different levels of game design experience, students in grade 6, 7 and 8, with 1, 2, and 3 years of game design experience respectively, findings suggest that students enjoyed the learning approach as satisfying and engaging, yet technologically challenging. The students experienced positive opportunities for engaging the creative thinking process in synthesizing social issue information for constructing their understanding through the creation of interactive, educational digital games. Findings suggest that the creative thinking process in student-centered game creation learning approach may provide learners a rich and enjoyable learning experience with the authentic technology use as well as provide for deep, insightful learning. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.