Game Lab Innovations in Education: Insights from a Board Game Design Project

From the perspective of educators, game development has great potential as a teaching method, as it promotes group collaboration, project-based learning and the development of content tailored to a given target group. This paper is based on a study that was carried out through an international project, implementing an educational game development concept called Game Lab into an educational context. The study explored professional development topics such as game-based learning, game development, and game testing, along with the Game Lab method focusing on group dynamics, progression, and creativity. It employed an abductive analysis of written responses from twelve teachers who participated in the Let’s Play project, which involved a Game Lab component. The teachers, ranging in age from their thirties to their sixties, represented all levels of education from preschool to upper secondary school. They responded to a survey with open-ended questions and reflection notes, providing insights into their experiences with game development methods as pedagogical tools. Their responses were analyzed to identify key themes and patterns. Findings suggest that this approach has broadened participants' perspectives on utilizing diverse games and game development techniques in education, aligning with prior research on production pedagogy. It underscores the importance of integrating in-game content with real-world contexts as a modern teaching method. Participants also highlighted that effective game-based learning supports a constructivist approach to teaching over behaviorism. The participants emphasized their increased insight and understanding of game development and game systems and how the combined effect of educational game design and the Game Lab method (working in teams) resulted in a more valuable learning outcome than they would have experienced alone. They also reported an improved understanding on how working with the development of a board game made them dig much deeper into the topic at hand. In addition, they found that this increased their motivation for learning, knowing that this was going to be a product that was to be tested and played by others (pupils and teachers). Furthermore, the participants highlighted the role of group dynamics in fostering teamwork and consensus during the collaborative game development process.