TANKS tangible game facilitators lived experiences: roles, competencies, and challenges

Abstract

TANKS is a tangible coding game that introduced coding to South African 10–14-year-old learners. It is aimed to initiate and stimulate learning using facilitators. Facilitators use untraditional teaching methods because they are influential on training success. Also, facilitators undertook face-to-face contact sessions, since TANKS requires the use of a smartphone and tokens. A phenomenological qualitative study design approach of six facilitators of a face-to-face interview using an adapted semi-structured questionnaire was used. All interviews were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed using an explanation-building strategy applied. Results identified themes where each theme was further explained in the study. Limitations included small interviewee numbers because of a nationwide COVID-19 restrictive lockdown. The feed-forward learning flow model concluded that supportive school leadership by principals or teachers creates an academic coding culture. This culture will necessitate learners’ competitive behavior by adopting a performance-based appraisal practice, to improve the coding interest and TANKS performance by learners.