Gaming SEL Lab
Games enable children to practice emotions in spaces that are free from actualized consequences. With thoughtful guidance, games can help children manage emotions, perspective-take, demonstrate empathic concern, and exhibit prosocial behaviors.
Emerging research suggests that social and emotional learning (SEL) skills are, in fact, teachable. The Gaming SEL Lab in the Technology, Innovation and Pedagogy department investigates the rich opportunities that games have in supporting SEL skill development.
Game Design Studio
Game Design Studio (GDS) was a design thinking and social and emotional learning experience that engaged teens in self-reflection and systems change using the framework of game design. The goal was to offer opportunities for teens to recognize and apply their strengths while exercising their creativity in designing games and learning new ways to approach problem-solving at systems level.
GDS was a collaboration with the iThrive Games Foundation. Undergraduate and graduate students studying education and educational technology were trained to facilitate two weeks of game design with and for participants and collect ethnographic data.
Partners and Collaborators
Research and Publications
- Farber, M., Williams, M. K., Mellman, L., & Yu, X. (2020). Systems at Play: Game Design as an Approach for Teen Self-Expression. Journal of Games, Self & Society. Carnegie Mellon University: ETC Press. 2(1), 40-84.
- Farber, M., & Rivers, S. (2020). Leveraging technology for SEL programmes. In N. Chatterjee, A. Duraiappah, & R. Ramaswamy (Eds.), Rethinking learning: A review of social and emotional learning for education systems (pp. 221-249). UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP).
