Pandemic Board Game Redesigned: How Learners’ Decisions Enable Emergent Learning Possibilities

Abstract

This paper discusses a study on students’ exploring and creating emergent systems using mathematics and science while redesigning the cooperative board game, Pandemic. Grade seven students participated in the game redesign project co-developed with a teacher in an art immersion school in Western Canada. Their work was collected through video recordings, photos, and interviews. The analysis shows how the game redesign activities supported the divergence and convergence of ideas and group decision making. It highlights how learners’ interests and choices acted as frames that enabled their ongoing inquiry and expanding their use of learning topics in creating a working system.