S. Misar- Computational Thinking and video games

In my opinion, the two best supported and easiest aspects of computational thinking in creating video games on the computer are conditional logic and debugging. In my experience with programming the majority of my interactions have relied on “if-then-else” construct. In reading the Berland article the players use conditional logic throughout the game in their collaborative attempt to control the disease. In Peppler, Jorge demonstrates his conditional logic as he builds the rules and sets the parameters of his game, which mimics another game that he had played. In Kafai & Burke, conditional logic is critical in students acquisition of coding skills and incorporating it into the academic content they are learning in class.

Debugging is supported in a variety of ways through students use of the open source coding to edit others’ work and through their own analysis of their work (as well as simulating the experience). I enjoyed reading Kafai’s articles about “computation participation” and how constructionist programing can broaden access to students of all backgrounds. Debugging was part of the collaborative and strategic board came playing in Berland’s article and Jorge (Peppler) needed to debug his program when it didn’t work the way he thought it should.

I think conditional logic provides the foundation for algorithm building and debugging works simultaneously with simulation and distributed computation.  I agree with Kafai that it is vitally important that students are empowered to conduct coding as a “shared social practice”, but wonder how we (educators, policy writers, administrators, etc) can encourage schools to make this a priority and support the professional development needed to implement such programs that provide this access? Jorge’s (Peppler) transformation from creating his game on his own to responding and participating in an online community about his work is inspiring but how do we encourage students to make that leap? I wonder what was the catalyst for him to begin seeking others’ involvement and feedback? At what stage in is programming?