Critical Thinking Through Game Prototyping: An Innovative Practice for Education

Introduction

In an era of technological advancements, learners face both opportunities and challenges. Care et al. (2016) suggest that collaborative problem solving is a fundamental skill that prepares learners for them, mostly because it aggregates a large subset of social and cognitive skills that include participation, perspective-taking, social and task regulation, and knowledge building. In line with this, the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Future of Jobs Report also finds that problem solving is in high demand by employers, alongside critical thinking, analysis and self-management skills such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility (pp. 35-36). It also suggests that employers often report large gaps in these capabilities among employees, estimating that around 40% of employees require reskilling within the first six months of employment (p. 5). Preparing learners for the demands of the job market is thus important for educators. They must create learning environments that allow learners to solve realistic and complex problems to capture the increasing ambiguity of today’s world (Craft, 2006). This may also require educators to adapt existing learning environments to the ever-changing demands of the real world. For example, Hall et al. (2004) found that the introduction of group learning activities led to small but significant changes in accounting students’ learning outcomes, as observed in an increase in their deep learning approach and a reduction in their surface learning approach. Such environments should consist of activities and tools that allow learners not only to build essential skills but also to develop the motivation, attitudes and habits to implement them (Yang & Chou, 2008). Educators also face challenges to make learning practices useful and enjoyable, with the latter found to affect learners’ intentions to engage with their learning experiences positively (Wojciechowski & Cellary, 2013). Additionally, such practices should be accompanied by assessment strategies that challenge learners to demonstrate and evidence their achievements in an effective and technology-enabled manner (Aslan, 2021; Uribe et al., 2003) so that they can graduate with capabilities comparable to the skills professionals require in their specific field of expertise (Burkholder et al., 2021).

This chapter introduces an innovative practice called game prototyping, which contributes to research on innovative practices in education in the following ways. First, it constructs game prototyping as a teaching and learning practice at the intersection of design thinking and gamification as it builds on their mutual focus on constructivism and problem-based learning, discussing its relevance for the scholarly field of education. Second, based on qualitative focus group data collected from 29 postgraduate management students across three cohorts at a UK university, the authors investigate how a learning experience based on game prototyping can contribute to the development of critical thinking in learners. Findings suggest that learners can develop critical thinking skills such as social skills, reflection and entrepreneurial thinking through mechanisms such as structured teamwork, milestone planning, and bricolage. Additionally, findings reveal that the gradual development of these skills leads to confidence building in learners, which in turn can trigger changes of critical thinking dispositions that make learners more confident decision-makers and problem solvers. Third, the chapter concludes that game prototyping can be adapted beyond the postgraduate management classroom. Based on the reflections of the authors and the outcomes of the focus groups, the authors suggest how this approach can be modified and used by educators who wish to implement it across different subject areas and levels of student experience.