We Make Games. Using Serious Game Design Concepts in Secondary School

By using game design as a method to teach in various subjects apart from software engineering and media design, the evaluation of the project We Make Games aimed at finding out what participating teachers think about the approach. The first part of the project saw a train-the-trainer workshop, distance teacher training and implementing the serious game-design method in classes. The accompanying evaluation had a closer look at teachers' previous knowledge regarding (serious) digital games, their expectations and attitudes towards the project, games and game-design as well as the outcome of the project and the participating students' learning effects. Therefore, a mixed methods approach was used. Results show that teachers who are not familiar with game-design concepts need extensive training and support before using the method in their classes. Moreover, constraints because of time and organizational framework in schools make an implementation more difficult. However, motivation and engagement of students generally increased as well as their problem-solving skills.