Design a Helpful Game

Overview

Year Level: Year 3
Learning Area: Digital Technology
Other Curriculum Areas: English, Health and Physical Education, Mathematics and Statistics
Key Competencies: thinking, managing self, relating to others, participating and contributing, using language/symbols/texts
Values: respect, equity, community, innovation

Learning intentions

W.A.L.T. for the lesson series: We are learning to design, sequence, test and improve a helpful game for a user.

Success criteria

We are successful when we can identify a user and purpose, create ordered instructions, test an outcome, find and fix an error, and explain how the design helps its user.

Inclusion of Te Reo me ōna Tikanga Māori: Use the words kaiwhakamahi, whāinga, raupapa, whakamātau, whakatika, mahi tahi and manaakitanga. Emphasise respectful collaboration and designing for all learners.

Curriculum links

Digital Technology Achievement Objectives/Progress Outcome:

• Computational Thinking for Digital Technologies: Students decompose a task into ordered instructions, test them, identify errors and revise.
• Designing and Developing Digital Outcomes: Students identify a user and purpose, communicate a design, develop and evaluate an outcome.

Vocabulary: user, purpose, helpful, game, design, outcome, algorithm, instruction, sequence, test, error, revise, evaluate, kaiwhakamahi, whāinga, raupapa, whakamātau, whakatika, mahi tahi, manaakitanga.

Lesson 1 — Investigate and plan (45 minutes)

0–5 min · Hook and question. Open with the hook and everyday technology examples and ask, “How could a digital tool make a playground game easier, fairer or more fun?” Students think, pair and share examples of digital tools and the people they help.

5–12 min · Build knowledge. Use the teaching slides about users, purpose and impacts to introduce a digital outcome as something made using digital thinking, such as a game, animation or set of instructions. Discuss that technology can have helpful or unhelpful impacts, including time, enjoyment, access and use of materials or electricity. Students identify the user and purpose of two pictured outcomes.

12–20 min · Inquiry stage 1: Explore and question. In groups of four, students investigate the question: “What makes a simple game easy to play?” Give each group a familiar classroom game or describe one, such as a treasure hunt or obstacle course. Students discuss who plays it, what the player must do, where confusion might occur and what instructions are needed. The enquiry process skill is asking questions.

20–32 min · Design brief and computational thinking. Model a brief: “Design an unplugged digital game for a partner. It must have a clear goal, no more than six steps, and instructions that another person can follow.” Distribute the digital game design and testing sheet. Students choose a game idea, identify the user and purpose, draw the outcome, and record ordered steps using numbers and imperative verbs such as “Choose”, “Move” and “Check”. Prompt students to break the task into smaller steps.

32–40 min · Share and refine. Groups explain their plan to another group using the planning and partner-feedback prompts. Partners ask, “What is the goal?”, “What does the player do first?” and “Which step might be confusing?” Students make one change to their plan.

40–45 min · Reflection. Students complete the first reflection box on the digital game design and testing sheet by recording one design decision and one question for next lesson. Collect sheets to check whether plans include a user, purpose and ordered steps.

Lesson 2 — Develop, test and improve (45 minutes)

0–5 min · Reconnect. Revisit the lesson-two retrieval and success-criteria slides. Students silently order three mixed-up instruction cards shown on the screen, then explain how they knew the correct order.

5–12 min · Explicit teaching and modelling. Model following a short instruction sequence, deliberately making an error. Think aloud: “I will test each step, compare what happened with what should happen, then correct the step.” Introduce the terms algorithm, sequence, test and debug in child-friendly language. Students identify the mistake and suggest a correction.

12–25 min · Inquiry stage 2: Test and investigate. Students work in pairs to develop their planned game from Lesson 1 using paper cards, arrows, counters or a simple grid on their worksheet. One student is the player and one is the tester; they swap roles. The enquiry process skill is observing and recording: testers note where the player hesitates, takes a wrong action or reaches the wrong result. Students follow the algorithm exactly rather than relying on the designer’s explanation.

25–35 min · Debug and improve. Students use the testing, debugging and improvement section to record one error, explain why it happened, and rewrite or redraw the step. They test the revised version with a new partner. Encourage precise instructions, such as “Move two spaces forwards” rather than “Go over there”. Students consider whether the game is fair, accessible and enjoyable for its intended user.

35–41 min · Demonstrate the outcome. Pairs demonstrate their improved game to a small audience while the audience follows the instructions without extra help. Use the demonstration and feedback prompts to guide feedback: “The goal was clear because…”, “A step that worked was…” and “One improvement could be…”.

41–45 min · Assessment and closure. Finish with the learning-intention exit ticket slips. Students answer: “What was one mistake you found?”, “How did you fix it?” and “How could your outcome help its user?” Invite two students to share how testing changed their design.

Resources

• the two-lesson digital design and computational thinking deck
• the digital game design and testing sheet
• Paper, pencils, coloured markers and erasers
• Counters, blocks, arrow cards or sticky notes
• Open floor or desk space for testing
• Teacher-prepared examples of simple instruction sequences
• Devices only if available; the main outcome is unplugged and does not require them

Assessment

• During Lesson 1, question groups about user, purpose, impact and sequence; check plans for a clear goal and ordered instructions.
• During Lesson 2, observe whether students test instructions, identify an error and debug rather than simply explain the intended action.
• Use the exit ticket to assess understanding of algorithms, testing, improvement and the relationship between a digital outcome and its user.

Differentiation

• Support learners with a partially completed design brief, picture-based sequencing, a reduced four-step limit, oral recording, a scribe or a peer reader. Model one instruction at a time and use gestures for sequence words.
• Provide sentence starters: “The user is…”, “The goal is…”, “First… next… finally…”, and “The error happened because…”.
• Pair students strategically and assign roles—designer, player, tester and recorder—so every learner contributes.
• Extend confident learners by adding a choice or repeat instruction, designing for a user with an accessibility need, or comparing two algorithms and explaining which is more efficient.
• Provide extra space, tactile materials and quiet testing options for learners who need reduced visual, language or sensory load.