Using Digital Games in Technology Oriented STEM Education: The Examination of the Students’ Game Designs

The purpose of this research is to examine the contents of the representations that students used while producing digital games in the scope of STEM education. The descriptive survey model among the other quantitative research methods has been used. Within the scope of this purpose, 300 games from the competition arranged throughout Turkey with the name of ‘’I encode my game’’ have been examined in terms of different variables. Checklists were created by the researchers to analyze the data. In these checklists, mental structures (abstract, concrete, mixed and simple content), the use of violent content, the characters, the subject of the game, the type of points, the dominant colors were examined. Findings show that boys were more interested in the game production process than girls while the counselors were all females. it has been found that students intensively used concrete elements and gave more importance to the educational technologies such as educational-instructional games and quiz shows. Students used human figures, animals, objects and fantasy characters as the protagonists in their games. As for the representation of the human figures, it is seen that the proportions of boys and girls were equal. Digital games in technology-oriented STEM education promote students to join the production process on a large scale. At further researches, it is thought that providing students with educational content like game encoding is highly important.


Introduction
In the past, it was preferable to play games at real playgrounds, homes, or streets with real friends, but nowadays computer games, computerized virtual activities, or online games have become much more preferable (Horzum 2011). With the rapid advancement of the technology, the traditional game concept has changed, and a new concept called ''digital game'' has been created with the fact that digital tools has become an indispensable part of daily life. Increasing consumer interests towards the digital games and thus emerging market of digital games have shown itself in Turkey as well as all over the world. Increasing of popularity video games, make this video games current issue for educational games on the agenda.
Educational games are planned and purposeful games that provide the achievement of the objectives determined during the education process, develop knowledge and skills, and prepare the environment for reinforcing the previous learning (Coşkun, 2012). Çankaya and Karamete (2008) regard the importance of education technologies today as the result of the rapid development of technology and computer and regard as the new quest for solving the problems of education and training. Students demand and play with the digital educational content and thus loving to learn (İşman 2005). While the literature based on educational play is growing, a systematic review of the effectiveness of this new technology is still inadequate. Regardless of the complexity of a game and apart from the fact that technological integration of the game is its propulsive force, games could be propelling force in the process of learning for entitled as digital natives to achieve their 21st century skills. Shin, Park and Bae (2014) state that the basic skills which the individuals of 21st century can be obtained through the education of computer and programming. In their study based on the effect of programming on the development of mathematical and technological thinking, Taylor, Harlow and Forret (2010) has found out that the education of programming has an effect on teaching of mathematical subjects, developing problem-solving strategies and improving collaborative, systematic and creative thinking. In digital game-based learning, students are expected to learn by playing educational computer games. Prensky (2001) states that students are willing to be a part of digital game-based learning, and also there are many different types of educational computer games like normal computer games which have a strategy or an action in them, and adds that these computer games combining different learning methods with many various types of games provide students with a broader sense of latent learning. Therefore, the students have fun playing these educational digital games and realize that they have learned new things when the game is over.
Educational digital games can be combined with other learning methods and provide a complete learning. Digital games are also classified in different groups. These groups mainly consist of abstract games, meaningful games, meaningless games, and progressive games. (Yenğin, 2010: 114). Mitchell and Smith (2004) differentiate the game types as action games, fighting games, platform games, adventure games, simulation games, modeling games, road games, logical games and math games. The games require that the complex and diverse capabilities should be brought together, focusing on the virtual world, thinking, strategy, planning, and most importantly, interacting with this world. (Bostan and Tıngöy, 2015) According to Prensky (2001), a game should have its own rules, goals, objectives, feedback, struggle, interaction, presentation and the story. The rules provide various ways for the players to reach their goal. The goals and objectives create a sense of duty in the players and make them spend their time and effort voluntarily. The feedback tells the players how far they have gone through their goals and provides some returns when the possible situations have changed in response to the players' reactions. Struggle / race / challenge / contrast are the basic problems that need to be dealt with during the game. The users can feel some fear and excitement during the game without facing any danger as in real life. This motivates and allows them to continue and complete the game. As for the interaction, two types of interaction can be mentioned. The first one is the interaction of the players or the computer, which can also be called as feedback. The second one is the social situation that the players create with each other while playing that game. The presentation or story is the subject of the game. The story of the game can be given directly at the beginning or in the course of the game. Many programs or tools can be used in the production of a game. One of the most common used software in primary, middle and high school levels is Scratch.
The Scratch programming platform was intended for the individuals between the age of 8-16 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory in 2003. However, today, individuals of all ages use this platform. Since its opening to the public in May 2007, the Scratch Web site (http://scratch.mit.edu) has become a lively online community of people sharing, discussing and reinterpreting each other's projects. The users from around the world install more than 1500 new projects to this website every day, and it can be freely used to share and re-mix the source codes. This website's project collection includes video games, interactive stories, science simulations, virtual tours, birthday cards, animated dance competitions and interactive tutorials, which are all programmed in Scratch. Thanks to the interface that does not require any code-writing, users can create projects by dragging the code block from one place to another, and this website also offers a convenience for the newcomers. With more than 40 different language support, the users in more than 150 countries can easily communicate with each other and create collaborative projects (Resnick et al, 2009). Scratch program can also be used to create projects in different courses including the elements of music, pictures, simulations, games, presentations, videos, animations and many other multimedia elements (Çatlak, Tekdal and Baz, 2015).
Scratch has been used to enhance the development of technological fluency of young children at afterschool centers in economically disadvantaged communities (Peppler & Kafai, 2007) and to teach computer programming concepts in a college-level computer science class (Malan & Leitner, 2007). Apart from Algorithm and Programming Teaching, some subjects that are difficult to learn in courses such as Mathematics, Science, Foreign Language, Social Studies could be made enjoyable with Scratch projects and these subjects could be taught to students through playing games (Çatlak, Tekdal & Baz, 2015). Acording to Zhang, Yang, Luan, Yang, & Chua, (2014), Scratch not only serves as a programme learning tool but also contributes to high-level thinking skills. According to Marcelino, Pessoa, Vieria, Salvador and Mendes (2017), 'Scratch" is the most widely used program in teaching programming at the level of K-12. Çatlak, Tekdal and Baz (2015) suggest that Scratch should also be integrated with other courses besides the course of programming as almost all kinds of multimedia applications could be developed with the use of this programme. Yünkül, Durak, Çankaya and Mısırlı (2017) emphasize that it is important to expand the use of Scratch at the beginner and intermediate level in education programming, and for this program to be included in the curriculum. Yükseltürk and Altınok (2016) state that there are not any alternative methods and methodologies in teaching programming and the number of studies on this subject is very limited. Becta (2001) emphasizes the need for teachers to be involved in the process of educational game design.
In this age of rapid expansion of computer and educational technology, digital games have reached an attractive level. The gaming industry is growing rapidly, reaching millions of players very quickly. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education of digital games is also important for technology-oriented applications. Advancements in educational technology have provided various opportunities for supporting student learning, and they offer unique affordances for complex, integrated STEM learning environments. For example, learning experiences can be expanded to facilitate learning multiple subjects simultaneously. (Yang & Baldwin, J Educ Sci Environ Health 2020). STEM learning environment (Lunce, 2006;Smith and Mader, 2017). But what exactly does Technology mean from the concepts that make up STEM? Does it depict an electronic product? Or any product that makes our lives easier? Sivaraj, Ellis & Roehrig (2019) states that technology has three different meanings in STEM in its systematic literature review: 1. As educational technologies in STEM 2. Engineering product in STEM 3. Includes coding and computer thinking in STEM Coding and computer thinking in STEM Education; There are various studies in which technology, coding, programming or computer thinking are included in science, engineering and mathematics activities (Swaid, 2015). Examples include designing digital works like websites and video games using applications such as Scratch. Learning and applying programming languages means using digital designs and computer technology in STEM learning process. The inclusion of coding practices into STEM-related practices can be seen as an effective tool "as students develop their design skills". In engineering applications involving computer thinking; for example, students develop mechatronic smartphone / Bluetooth-controlled 3D-design mobile vehicles, Kim et al. (2013) how to use robotics in engineering design based courses. Students using programming devices such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino combining programming and engineering applications can be given as examples. Interactive, immersive games that involve science, mathematics, engineering, and technology STEM learning (Lemke, 2013). The following sub-problems have also been dealt with in this research while searching an answer for the question ''which contents do the middle school students make use of in STEM educational technologies while developing their digital game coding skills?''.
-What are the contents that students use while producing digital games? -What are the types in the games that students encode? -What are the types of the characters that students use in the games they encode? -What are the objects that students use on their interfaces in the games they encode? -What are the awards students using in the games they encode? -What colors students use intensively in the games they encode?

Method
Descriptive survey model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, has been used in this study. The general survey method has been used in the research process. The general screening models are screening arrangements applied on the whole universe or on a group of samples gathered from it in order to make a general judgement about the universe that consists of many elements (Karasar, 2003:79). Relational screening models in this group are between two and more variables. Since it is used for research models aiming to determine the existence or degree of change, it is considered appropriate for such research (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000).

Data Collection and Analysis
In 2017-2018 academic year in Turkey, game coding competition was organized with the coordination of a government school and with the support by the government agencies in order to monitor students' coding skills. The data of this research were obtained from the games coded by the students who participated in the competition ''2018 National Encoding My Game". The students were asked to design a game using ''Scratch 2.0' program on a topic that they determined without any field constraint. The competitors were middle school students and they were asked to form a group of up to 3 students in their own schools and to encode their games under the supervision of a teacher. They were asked to use Turkish characters and contents, and they were also asked not to produce violent-based games.
There were 456 applications from 281 institutions all around Turkey. 456 works were identified as the universe of this research. The sample consisted of 300 randomly selected works. The data of this research were obtained from the works included in this competition. The data analysis was conducted by the researchers. The works in the competition were examined through the use of "Scratch 2.0" program. Checklists were created by the researchers to analyze the data. In these checklists, mental structures (abstract, concrete, mixed and simple content), the use of violent content, the characters, the subject of the game, the type of points, the dominant colors were examined. Then, information technologies experts were consulted about the appropriateness of the data provided. The findings were gathered about the contents over which a consensus was reached after getting the feedback.

Participants
In Table 1, it is seen that there are 281 applications from the participating schools. 60% of these schools (f = 182) are middle schools, 8% (f= 25) are imam hatip middle schools, 24% (f = 74) are colleges and 13% (f = 13) are science and art centers (BILSEM). As seen the participation in the competition is mostly from state schools, and at least in science and art centers.  Table 3 shows the number of provinces where the participant institutions are located. It was observed that the participants were mostly from Ankara with %19 (f = 54), Istanbul with 16% (f = 47), Izmir with 4% (f = 4), Manisa with 4%, Bursa with % 3 (f = 3). It was also observed that the participations were generally from Turkey's three largest cities, and 57 of 81 provinces participated in the competition.

Findings
In this section, the findings related to the sub-problems of this research are presented. J Educ Sci Environ Health Figure 1 shows the basic features of the games produced by the students. (a) A skier, track, snow and trees are seen in concrete items. It is observed that student used only the concrete elements in the game design. (b) In the visual of abstract elements, it is seen that only the imaginary characters are used in the game. (c) In a complex content game, it is seen that the contents are used randomly. Two elephants are trying to wet a mouse by throwing some water on it. There are four Turkish flags in the edges of the visual. (d) In the violent element, a Ninja character is expected to break some boxes and reach the star. As the ninja progresses, it is understood that the rays will smash and damage him.  Table 4 shows the basic characteristics of the contents of the games that the students encoded. According to this table, students created a total of 300 games. They used concrete elements in 68 % (f = 205) of the games and used abstract elements in 27 % of the games (f = 83). Of the game contents encoded by the students, 49 % (f = 148) had a complex content and 47 % (f = 143) had a simple content. Violent elements were witnessed in 13 % (f = 50) of these contents. Game Types Coded by Students Figure 2 shows the followings: (a) a visual of an educational-instructional game in which the player is asked to find the words associated with ''respect''; (b) a visual of a score collection game in which the rabbit is expected to collect fruits; (c) a male character to reach the orange area through the maze and collect the gold in this process;

Game Contents Coded by Students
(d) quiz show in which a girl character on the screen asks some questions and the player is expected to answer those questions by writing them in the given space.  Table 5 shows the types of the games that students encoded. According to this table, of the 300 games encoded by students, 33% are score collection (f=100), 24% educational tutorial (f=74), 14% quiz show (f=44), 6% hurdle race (f=20), 6% maze (f=18), 4% concentration (f=14), 5% garbage pickuprecycling (f=16), 2% race (f=6), 1% advancement (f=4), 0.5% guessing (f=2), 0.5% following up (f=2)   Table 6 shows the characters students used in the games that they produced. It is seen that a total of 300 games were produced and students created 341 characters in total. However, in this table, only the characters with the frequency number of more than 1 have been issued. Therefore, the table shows only 245 characters in total. In terms of their characteristic features, these characters are divided into four groups as human, animal, object and fantasy characters. Out of 245 characters, 28 % (f=69) are human figures, 25 % (f=63) animals, 28 % (f=70) objects and 17 % (f=43) fantasy characters. It is seen that as a human character, participant students produced 26 % (f=18) female characters, 24 % (f=17) male characters, 13 % (f=9) astronauts and 13 % (f=9) farmers. Out Of the 245 characters, 63 are animal characters. It is seen that most preferred 36 % (f=23) are bats, 15 % (f=10) cats and 9 % (f=5) fish. Out of the 245 characters that were produced by the participant students, 70 of them are objects. It is seen that 27 % of these object characters are (f=19) balls, 20 % (f=14) spacecraft, 11 % (f=8) numbers. Out of the 245 games produced by the students, 43 of them consist of fantasy, that is, abstract characters. Of these characters, 39 % (f=17) are cartoon characters (abstract characters), 37 % (f=16) puppets and 11 % (f=5) witches.

Objects Used in Coded Games
In Figure Table 7 lists the objects that students used on their interfaces in the games they encoded. There were 1295 objects in the games that the students encoded. These codes are divided into six categories as humans and animals (f=312), environmental factors (f=304), space (f=110), technological objects (f=140), imaginary characters (f=74) and objects (f=352).

Donmez, Tekce & Kirmit
In the games that the students encoded, in human and animal category, 8 % were male children (f=26) , 8 % were female children (f=26) and 7% were cats (f=22). As for environmental factors, 11 % were clouds (f = 36), 8 % trees (f = 26), 7 % apples (f = 24). As for the space category, 22 % were stars (f = 36); 22 % were spacecraft (f = 20), and 14 % were meteorites (f = 12) and rockets (f = 12). In the technological item's category, 18 % were cars (f = 26), 11 % computers (f = 16) and 7 % glasses (f = 10). As for the imaginary characters, 78 % were fantasy characters (f = 58), 13 % witches (f = 13) and 8 % dragons (f = 6). In the object's category, 7 % (f = 28) were balls, 7 % (f = 26) numbers, 5 % (f = 20) letters. Figure 5 illustrates the visuals of the awards which the students used in the games they encoded. (a) In the Score category, the character is expected to choose the right foods for a healthy life. In return, the character earns points. In Not-used category, when the player clicks on the images, the English words for the fruits are heard. However, there are no scores assigned. (c) In the category of Life, the male character is expected to proceed without touching any garbage. If the character touches any garbage, its life (hearts) decreases. (d) In the Time category, a witch character is expected to travel in the city in a given period of time.

Awards Used Coded Games
(a) score (b) not used (c ) life (d) time Figure 5. Images of the awards used by the students in the games they encoded Table 8 shows the contents of the award used by the students in the games they encoded. It is seen that students mostly used 43 % (f = 130) points in the games they encoded. Beside this, there is not any award-winning criteria in the 19 % (f = 58) of the games. It is seen that 13 % (f = 41) of the awards were Life (hearts) and 4% (f = 13) were Scores. Other elements that the students used were listed as 2 % (f=7) for foods, %2 (f=6) for the number of correct answers, 2 % (f=6) for money, 1 % (f=3) for levels, 1 % (f=3) for hits, 1 % (f=3) for animals, 1 % (f=3) for the number of goals, 1 % (f=3) for keys. J Educ Sci Environ Health Colors Used Coded Games Figure 6 shows the colors used intensively by students in the games they encoded. (a) in the Blue visual, a fisherman is fishing in a lake. (b) In the Green visual, it appears that a racer is moving on a road without hitting any obstacles. It is seen that the green color is used intensively in this visual. (c) In the No Dominant Color visual, water drops is expected to be collected through a bucket. However, there is no dominant color used in this visual.
(d) In the Red visual, one or two players are expected to meet the ball. The Red color is used intensively in the background.  Table 9 shows the contents of the colors that the students used in the games they encoded. It is seen that the students mostly used the color blue in their games, which is 21 % (f = 65). Following this, there comes the color green, which is 16 % (f=48). Then, 12 % (f = 36) appears to be not a dominant color. The other rates are as follows; 9 % (f=28) for red, 8 % (f=25) for white, 8 % (f=25) for black, 6 % (f=20) for magenta, 4 % (f=14) for grey, 3 % (f=9) for brown, 3 % (f=9) for pink, 2 % (f=6) for purple, 2 % (f=6) for yellow, 1 % (f=5) for orange, 1 % (f=3) for real pictures and 1 % (f=1) for lilac.

Discussion and Conclusion
With the rapid advancement of the technology, the traditional game concept has changed, and digital items have become an indispensable part of our daily lives thanks to the ''digital games'' concept. This study examines the variables which were used by the middle school students in creating digital games in the scope of technologyoriented STEM education. As Prensky (2001) stated before, what creates a game is the rules, goals and objectives, feedback, struggle / race / challenge / contrast, interaction, presentation and a story. Today, as a result of the rapid advancement in the technology, the Scratch-based game technologies increase the importance of technologies used in educational environments. Findings have shown that men were more interested in the game production process than females, and it is seen that counselors were all females. These findings support Becta's (2001) conclusion that teachers should also be included in the process of an educational game production. It has been observed that the participants in the competition were mostly from Turkey's first three largest cities. It has also been observed that of the 81 provinces, 57 of them took part in the competition. With all these findings, it could be said that computers created equal opportunities for coding and production process. It can be seen clearly that the students' coding skills can be developed through such competitions.
As stated by Shin, Park and Bae (2014), Karabak and Güneş (2013), Monroy-Hernández and Resnick (2008), the students learn to produce digital games using their creativity, design some characters for the game, write stories, make feedbacks and use reward mechanisms, which are all essential for the improvement of their digital understanding. Therefore, they can gain some 21 st century skills of systematical thinking such as computational thinking or lead them to STEM career paths In this study, it has been observed that students used concrete elements, abstract elements, complex content, simple and violent elements in digital games. According to Yengin (2010), digital games overlap with the expressions of abstract games, meaningful games, meaningless games and phased games. It has also been observed that while producing digital games, some of the students consciously or unconsciously used the violent contents such as weapons, bullets, rays and swords that will physically damage the character. It is stated that violent digital games cause aggressive behaviors, thoughts and physiological stimulation to increase, and also, they bring about desensitization against violence and low empathy for the long-time players and decrease the prevalence of benevolent behavior (Anderson, Shibuya & Ihori 2010). In the researches to be made in the future, the factors which make the students use the content of violence could be dealt with. Psychological effects of the digital games could be investigated.
In this study, the included game types were educational-tutorial, quiz, obstacle passing, maze, attention, garbage collection -recycling, race, progress, prediction, and follow-up. These results are to some extent similar to the J Educ Sci Environ Health classification by Mitchell and Smith (2004). In some of the games, it has been observed that students combined the course contents with digital games by using educational technologies or use of assessment STEM learning outputs. Educational-instructional games allow the students to learn the new concepts. Quiz shows integrate the knowledge with the technology. These results, as stated by Çatlak, Tekdal and Baz (2015), help integrate the technology with other courses besides programming.
The results show that the main characters the students used in the games they encoded were human figures, animals, objects and fantasy characters. However, Kan (2010) states that male and female roles are represented differently in computer games, considering the representation of the human figure in this study, it is seen the proportions of male and female representations were equal. Our ultimate goal should be to make games for learning more accessible and rich gaming experiences for all. Many of the changes in teaching and learning that came out of the gender equity movement improved the situation for all students, and not just for girls and women (Kafai, 2008). Exposing underrepresented students (e.g., females, minorities, and rural students) to preengineering skills through robotics and game design has the potential to increase their interest and to provide them with the skills needed to create a diverse workforce (National Research Council (NRC) 2011). Preparing students to succeed in STEM is crucial to ensuring that students have access to these and other STEM occupations in the future. (Leonard et al.,2016). In the interfaces that students produced, there were people and animals, environmental factors, space, technological elements, imaginary characters and various objects included. The results show that the students used the characters and infrastructures that the program already offered to them. Achievement systems or similar reward systems are becoming more and more popular in the games and they require for the addition of some scoreable targets to the game, apart from the inner mechanisms of the play such as meanings or purposes (Demirbaş, 2015). It has been observed that the students created some kind of reward systems for the games that they produced. They used the points most in their games. This result supports Prensky's expression that these systems provide feedback and shows the dimension of the interaction between the players or the computers.
It has been proved via the experiments that colors make some psychological effects and the saturation of the colors gives information about the species, values, temperatures, coldness, activity, passivity, lightness, stimulation, relaxation, joy and sadness (Özdemir, 2005). It has been observed that students mostly used blue, green and red colors in the games that they produced. Blue represents coolness, calmness, loyalty, confidence and relaxation and it has a soothing effect (Madden, Hewett & Roth, 2000). Green represents freshness, coolness, growth, rebirth, peace, confidence, spring and vitality (Uçar, 2003, p.55). It appears that the students brought the calmness into the front in the games that they encoded.
Considering the concept of digital play, it has been observed that directing students to the game production process through competitions makes a great contribution to their 21st century skills in STEM education. From this point of view, encouraging students and their counselors in the game production process will provide an added value to our country within the scope of the growing game market. Within the framework of this research, the participation of males should be well-balanced with that of females. Students should be encouraged to use original characters or themes and to produce original contents. In educational technologies, digital games encourage students to game production. It is important to provide students with the necessary educational contents for the game encoding.
Leonardo et al (2016) found that game design and gaming developed children's self-efficacy in technology, STEM attitudes/STEM careers, and computational thinking. In future studies, students' ability to produce games can be explored in depth, and the images used by students in producing games can be investigated through qualitative research in STEM education. The success of the games with high sales can be examined. With the use of these games, students' influence on STEM interest and STEM motivation can be investigated. Scratch 2 and the use of other educational tools in educational technologies, factors related to students' success can be examined in STEM education. Game design have not only been extolled for their role in learning but have also been identified as pathways to broaden participation in STEM and STEM-related careers (Caron 2010;Sheridan et al. 2013). This research is limited only to the game connected to this contest. The research can be repeated with field-specific content at primary, middle, high school and higher education levels.