August 18, 2009 - Does the creative, collaborative world of gaming have the potential to bring more girls into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers?

UofC Education professor and educational technology expert Dr. Qing Li thinks so – and she’s about to find out for sure.

“I’m preparing to launch a three-year SSHRC-funded study of digital gaming and Web 2.0 technologies for science and math learning with a group of Grade 5 students in Calgary,” she says.

“And based on the preliminary work I did this summer with a group of Grades 4 to 6 kids, I believe we will find that today’s gaming technologies have new potential to interest more girls in STEM subjects and professions.”

The preliminary work she mentions involved a group of gifted students who were instructed to build their own computer games using a new programming language called Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu). The object of the game-building was to teach other students Newton’s Three Laws by sharing their newly created games, she notes.

“We introduced Scratch to these kids, with minimal instruction of the software itself. The focus was on the science and math ideas. Within a total of eight hours over a two-week period, many of them had created three or four different games on their own.

“We heard later from the parents that these students were so excited about the project that they introduced Scratch to their siblings. One parent e-mailed me to say that her son talked about Newton’ Laws and Scratch the entire week – and that as a result, she (the parent) had become extremely well versed in the Three Laws.”

The formal study begins this September, with a focus on building a complex game environment to harness the power of contemporary games and Web 2.0 for deep learning. By summer 2010, 30 Grade 4 to 6 students enrolled in summer camp activities will be enlisted to field test such a game environment. The students will write daily game play blogs and participate in interviews to record their preliminary actions and emotions during the activity.

Phase 2 of the study will engage a class of Grade 5 students to implement their games into a regular classroom environment, with six girls trained as ‘peer experts’ who will help coach their fellow students in the new gaming environment. By the seventh week of the project, all students in the class will play-test their games with their peers, and will evaluate the product of other small groups in the program.

Finally, the project’s third phase will allow the first group – now in Grade 6 – to coach a group of Grade 5 students in the new gaming environment. “The two classes will meet face-to-face at least twice a week, and will develop rich online interactions to further their learnings. Based on this experience, the Grade 6 students will revise their games and identify challenges to their designing methods and processes.”
Li on girls and STEM careers.

The research, while exciting and potentially ground-breaking, comes with a tincture of exasperation: Dr. Li explains that, even after decades of work to correct the gender differences in STEM-related education and careers, “we still find that women are seriously underrepresented in STEM jobs, particularly in the most high-prestige and lucrative of these careers.

“However, previous research does indicate that game-based approaches – namely, the peer collaboration and creative game-building that are both incorporated in my study – can help bridge the gender gap. Previous work in this field has been limited by the earlier technology: namely, that traditional games tend to be gender-biased, and that Web 1.0 was focused on knowledge consumption rather than knowledge co-authoring.

“The recent development in games and Web 2.0 directly addresses these limitations. Therefore, this project will investigate new practices, incorporating such new technology, to enhance equity by engaging learners as agents and architect of their own learning.

“I am hoping that through this process we can further promote the interests of female students and boost their confidence in learning math and science.”

For more information on Dr. Li’s project, see her website at http://www.ucalgary.ca/~qinli/.