Modeling Games in the K-12 Science Classroom

Digital games can be used as a productive and engaging medium to foster scientific expertise and have shown promise in supporting the co-development of scientific concepts and representational practices. This study focuses on the integration of a disciplinarily-integrated game, SURGE NextG, with complementary model-based activities to support the development of scientific modeling in Newtonian mechanics. Two pedagogical approaches were designed. Students in both approaches modeled the motion of an object inside and outside the game environment. One approach involved the material integration of virtual game play through a physical modeling activity in the classroom. The second approach involved a complementary modeling tool using an agent-based computational programming platform. While both modeling activities demonstrated affordances to support productive student learning, this study highlights the significance of designing multiple complementary representations of the same phenomenon as a core element of game play and related modeling activities.