Motivating high schools students and teachers to create interactive software: Can summer workshops affect participants' interest for developing games and animations?

摘要

This study examines the appropriateness of animations and games as attractive motivators to encourage high school (HS) students and teachers to apply math and science concepts to interactive software development. To identify factors that could motivate participants to learn about animation and game technology, the researcher observed a group of students and teachers attending a two-week summer camp and a teacher workshop lasting two weeks as well. Comparisons of participants' final projects and feedback from their learning experiences were documented. Two websites were created to support the workshops with additional materials and video tutorials. The purpose of having the websites was to observe if they support the development of interest in creating animations and games.;Data were collected from 12 students and 23 teachers using five surveys aimed at capturing participants' feedback about previous educational experiences and their experiences in the workshops. Additionally, three sets of programming assignments for each participant were gathered, as well as class materials, researcher's field notes, and results from instructors' interviews.;Students and teachers showed no significant changes in their interest for creating games and animation after attending the workshops. Yet, results from the follow-up survey, two months after the summer institute ended, indicated a significant decline in teachers' interest for creating interactive software. Students made progress faster, struggled less with the content, and handled the technical problems better than HS teachers. In contrast, teachers were more likely to work extra time on their projects during and after the teacher institute compared to the HS students. The class website proved to be more useful for the teachers than for the students, but the online community was used only by a small number of participants.;Teachers found value in the educational programs they created in the teacher institute and they used them in their classrooms. Students were inspired to take mathematics and computer technology classes.