Tabletop games designed to promote computational thinking

• Published in: Computer science education Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 449 - 475
• Main Authors: Poole, Frederick J., Clarke-Midura, Jody, Rasmussen, Melissa, Shehzad, Umar, Lee, Victor R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Norwood Routledge 02-10-2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Building codes; Coding; Computation; computational thinking; Computer Science Education; Content analysis; Design; Games; Learning; Manipulative Materials; Mechanics (physics); Problem Solving; Puzzles; Tabletop games; Taxonomy; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Thinking Skills
• ISSN: 0899-3408; 1744-5175
• DOI: 10.1080/08993408.2021.1947642

There is a growing perception that computational thinking can be developed in unplugged environments. A recent trend among these unplugged approaches is the use of tabletop games. While there are many commercial tabletop games on the market that are promoted as teaching computer science and/or computational skills, little is known about how these games are supposed to support learning. This study investigates the types of tabletop games that are currently being promoted as teaching computational thinking, who such games are marketed towards, and how game designs could provide opportunities for developing computational thinking. We conducted a content analysis to explore the type of tabletop games currently being created, their audiences, and the kinds of game mechanics and design features being implemented to teach computational thinking concepts. In this study, we created a taxonomy of computational thinking tabletop games that identified three primary categories (e.g. code building, code execution, and puzzle games) . Games that fall into our categories share similar learning claims, target audiences, and game mechanics. Our taxonomy offers a starting place for educators who want to explore the use of tabletop games for introducing computational thinking concepts in unplugged settings, suggestions for designers, and areas of investigation for researchers.