Rationale for Game Design

You can just use my resources, of course. However, it's good to have a solid rationale for why you want to teach game design in the classroom. Administrators love this stuff.

If you want to know more about why I chose to do this, I wrote a nice thing below.

What is a strategy Game?

Games have many different components and elements, and understanding those elements is important in order to make one.

Why Teach Game Design?

Teaching game design is really about coaching kids through a process. I've learned a lot over the years, and I'm happy to share that.

Why Games?​

Games have become more and more accepted in the classroom, and here are good reasons why. It's amazing what games offer in the classroom!

Design Mindsets

My work is heavily influenced by the Stanford d.school's prototype development process, and the design mindsets are important key to success.

My journey to teaching Game Design

​I have chosen to share these resources that I have developed over the last four or five years, rather than publish them in some stagnant lesson plan book, in the hopes that others can and will use them.

I've always loved board games, and I started looking into finding additional strategy games for my classroom than Risk, Stratego, Mastermind, and such.  Those are good games, of course, but once I started really looking into specialty strategy games, I came across terms like designer games and euro games, I realized that there is a whole amazing world of board games out there that I had no idea existed!  I started to really get into board gaming as a personal hobby.  I joined a local board game Meetup group in St. Louis, MO, a place not as violent as one might be led to believe, and got to know many amazing gamers and designers(!) who lived in my midst.   I began to think about how my gifted students, who devoured any new game I brought into my classroom (currently 200ish), were so creative and analytical and clever and loved fun and weren't those key abilities of a good game designer?   So, quite fumblingly (that's probably a word) at first, I began teaching kids to design board games.  I've improved and refined my methods, and now I'm happy to share them with others who are interested in doing the same.  I don't think they are perfect, which is why the book idea stalled for so long, because I am a perfectionist and couldn't stomach the idea of putting out less than really amazing stuff.  But with others using them and providing input (see below), I think we can help students learn how to develop a substantial, meaningful, complete game.  In the process, students must problem solve, communicate, demonstrate independence and collaborate, listen to others and respond to feedback, improve upon their ideas, and so much more.  Yes, they create a board game, but tell me how those skills aren't the skills we need to nurture for these students to survive in the 21st century.  BOOM.