How STEM Game Design Participants Discuss Their Project Goals and Their Success Differently

This study explored whether participation in a high school STEM game design enrichment program influenced students’ discussions of their project goals and success. In our sample, seven students participated in the game design program, while ten received traditional instruction. Post-interviews were conducted using a semi-structured protocol in order to capture students’ lived experience in a rich, meaningful way. Transcripts were qualitatively coded by two researchers. Connections between codes were analyzed using epistemic network analysis. Based on experience grouping, we investigated whether there was a difference in how students discussed 1) their projects? and 2) their success? Our findings revealed that students who received traditional instruction discussed performance goals, while game design participants discussed learning goals. Game design participants also discussed persistence in relationship to their success; the traditionally instructed students did not attribute their success to persistence. Overall, our combined results indicate that students who received traditional instruction were performance-oriented, while game design participants were mastery-oriented. Designing STEM games is one potential method for helping students develop the mastery orientation that they need for success in future STEM careers and for their future in general.