AI Enhanced Constructionism for Educational Game Design

Authors

  • Peter Mozelius Mid Sweden University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21240/constr/2025/6.X

Keywords:

Game-based learning, Constructionism, Course design, Artificial intelligence in education, AIED

Abstract

This paper describes and discusses how AI enhanced constructionism could be involved to stimulate active learning in a course on game-based learning. The main objective in the course is to create artefacts that could be combined to a game prototype at the end of the course, in the spirit of Seymour Papert’s idea of learning building meaningful artefacts. Design science research was used to gather requirements and to create the syllabus and the course design that is presented in this paper. Since the course has not been given yet, this is work in progress, but with ideas for how to combine constructionism with artificial intelligence in a course on game-based learning. The paper also discusses how to outline assignments and how to handle assessment when generative AI tools are used by course participants. Other suggested concepts for enhancing constructionism are heutagogy, feedforward and ungrading, especially if the course is given as professional development for adult learners.

References

Alimisis, D., & Kynigos, C. (2009). Constructionism and robotics in education. Teacher education on robotic-enhanced constructivist pedagogical methods, 11-26.

Cronjé, J. C. (2024). A Constructionist Approach to Learning with AI: An “Old” Solution to a “New” Problem?. In Future of Information and Communication Conference (pp. 13-22). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

Denham, A. R., & Guyotte, K. W. (2018). Cultivating critical game makers in digital game-based learning: learning from the arts. Learning, Media and Technology, 43(1), 31-41.

Foung, D., Lin, L., & Chen, J. (2024). Reinventing Assessments with ChatGPT and Other Online Tools: Opportunities for GenAI-empowered Assessment Practices. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 100250.

Furze L. (2024), Practical AI Strategies, Engaging with Generative AI in Education. Amba press.

Hof, B. (2021). The turtle and the mouse: how constructivist learning theory shaped artificial intelligence and educational technology in the 1960s. History of education, 50(1), 93-111.

Humble, N., & Mozelius, P. (2021). Enhancing pedagogy to andragogy in the redesign of teacher Training courses on programming. In European Conference on e-Learning 2021 (ECEL 2021) (pp. 210-217).

Humble, N., & Mozelius, P. (2023). Design science for small scale studies: Recommendations for undergraduates and junior researchers. In European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies (ECRM 2023) (pp. 87-92). ACI Academic Conferences International.

Johannesson, P., & Perjons, E. (2014). An introduction to design science (Vol. 10, pp. 978-3). Cham: Springer.

Kafai, Y., & Morales-Navarro, L. (2024). Twenty Constructionist Things to Do with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.06775.

Kahn, K., & Winters, N. (2021). Constructionism and AI: A history and possible futures. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(3), 1130-1142.

Luo, J. (2024). A critical review of GenAI policies in higher education assessment: A call to reconsider the “originality” of students’ work. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1-14.

Mozelius, P. (2014). Game Based Learning-a way to stimulate intrinsic motivation. In International Conference on e-Learning (p. 272). Academic Conferences International Limited.

Mozelius, P. (2017). Constructionism and Game-Based Learning as Didactic Strategies in Programming Education. Progress in Education, 147-166.

Mozelius, P. (2024). Generative AI and its Impact on Activities and Assessment in Higher Education: Some Recommendations From Master’s Students. In The 4th International Conference on AI Research, ICAIR 2024 (Vol. 4). ACI Academic Conferences International.

Noddings, N. (1990). Chapter 1: Constructivism in mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. Monograph, 4, 7-210.

Olsson, M., & Mozelius, P. (2016). Game-based learning and game construction as an e-learning strategy in programming education. In proceedings of the Ikasnabar-GUIDE International Conference on eLearning 2016, Collado Villalba, Spain.

Papert, S. (1972). Teaching children thinking. Programmed Learning and Educational Technology, 9(5), 245-255.

Papert, S. (1991). Situating constructionism. In I. Harel & S. Papert (Eds.), Constructionism (pp. 1–11). Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation.

Papert, S. (1993). The children’s machine: Rethinking school in the age of the computer. New York.

Papert, S. (2012). A word for learning. In Constructionism in practice (pp. 9-24). Routledge.

Parmaxi, A., & Zaphiris, P. (2014). The evolvement of constructionism: An overview of the literature. In Learning and Collaboration Technologies. Designing and Developing Novel Learning Experiences: First International Conference, LCT 2014, Held as Part of HCI International 2014, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, June 22-27, 2014, Proceedings, Part I 1 (pp. 452-461). Springer International Publishing

Perkins, M., Furze, L., Roe, J., & MacVaugh, J. (2024). The Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale (AIAS): A framework for ethical integration of generative AI in educational assessment. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 21(06).

Piaget, J. (1950). The Psychology of Intelligence, London: Routledge & Paul.

Plass, J. L., Mayer, R. E., & Homer, B. D. (Eds.). (2020). Handbook of game-based learning. Mit Press.

Roe, J., Perkins, M., & Ruelle, D. (2024). Is GenAI the Future of Feedback? Understanding Student and Staff Perspectives on AI in Assessment. Intelligent Technologies in Education.

Steffe, L. P., & Gale, J. E. (Eds.). (1995). Constructivism in education. Psychology Press.

Zamfirescu-Pereira, J. D., Wong, R. Y., Hartmann, B., & Yang, Q. (2023, April). Why Johnny can’t prompt: how non-AI experts try (and fail) to design LLM prompts. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-21).

Downloads

Published

24-06-2025

Conference Proceedings Volume

Section

Short Paper

Categories

How to Cite

AI Enhanced Constructionism for Educational Game Design. (2025). Constructionism Conference Proceedings, 8, 359-366. https://doi.org/10.21240/constr/2025/6.X