Co-creating pedagogically informed games for data literacy

Abstract

This article explores the co-creation of educational games for data literacy in the framework of the DALI project. The games have been designed for the development of basic data literacy for citizenship and are aimed at young and older adults in non-formal contexts. The work presented here addresses the phases and strategies of co-design, highlighting their importance in the develop- ment of educational games, recognising playful learning methods as valuable tools in education that allow cultural expression, creativity, and exploration, while requiring a balance between playful and educational objectives. Co-cre- ation in the framework of the DALI project follows a research-based design pro- cess with multidisciplinary teams (education, learning design and game science), and takes as fundamental conceptual elements of play-based learning and the principles of connected learning, combining them through the structure of the analysis framework and activity-centred design (ACAD framework). The paper details the five phases of work and highlights the importance of generating a solid pedagogical and conceptual base to scaffold the co-creation process, as well as a methodological superstructure that provides context and solidity to the playful proposal, in this case called Game Based Networked Learning Strategy (GBNLS). The paper emphasises the complexity of co-creation approaches, and the value of the tools and strategies used, highlighting the relevance of the ideas and methodologies used in this part of the DALI project for other teams working on similar strategies.