Dance: Choreographing and Performing 1

Dance: Choreographing and Performing

Final Project

Jared Frame

ISTC 729
Dance: Choreographing and Performing 2

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to outline a unit plan, game integration, and game theory
used for my final project in ISTC 729. The focus of the unit is dance, choreographing dance and
creative movements, and dance performance. Throughout the unit students will learn what it
means to dance and how to choreograph a dance. They will practice various dance moves found
in the game Dance Party 2019. Students will learn how to navigate the coding game Dance Party
and by the end of the unit students will have choreograph their own dance, practiced it in person,
coded a character to perform the dance in the game Dance Party 2019, and performed the dance
for their peers either in person or digitally or as a duet. Throughout the unit the unit will use
Digital Game Based Learning or DGBL to help students gain an understanding of what it means
to choreograph a dance. The unit will also use aspects of meaningful gamification to help
students gain a better understanding of the content.

Unit Overview

This unit is designed for fifth grade students. The unit is approximately 5 weeks long.
The unit will align with a main objective and one weekly objective each week. The unit focus is
on choreographing a dance.

Objective(s):

Main objective(s)- Over a five-week unit, students will identify and practice various dance moves
in person and digitally. Students will perform a choreographed dance in person and/or digitally
for their peers.

Week one objective(s)- Students will be able to identify 11 basic dance moves.

Students will practice the 11 dance moves to gain a better understanding of each dance
movement.

Week two objective(s)- Students will be introduced to Dance Party 2019. Students will complete
the basic code introduction with the teacher.

Week three objective- Students will perform a basic code task on their own in order to gain an
understanding of coding, how to sequence code, and how to make a character dance in the game
Dance Party 2019.
Dance: Choreographing and Performing 3

Week 4 and 5 objective(s)- Students will choreograph a dance for a performance performed by
their persons and/or their character in the game Dance Party 2019.

Week one of the unit starts out with the students researching the meaning of
choreographing. “What is choreographing” is an essential question for the unit and one that all
students need to gain an understanding of in-order to be successful during the unit. Students will
take the research they completed and create their own definition of the word “choreograph”.
Students are then be asked to record this definition on the definition work sheet (see appendix
A.). The second activity of week one has the students learning 11 dances. These dances are
short dance movements/ creative movements. Each movement can be found in the game Dance
Party 2019. This activity is teacher led. The teacher will present each dance movement to the
class on the smart board. The class, with the teachers help, will break down each movement into
small movement segments. The students will then practice each movement for 1-3 minutes.
During this time, the teacher will navigate the gym providing feedback to students. The students
will be informally assessed through teacher observation on their ability to perform each dance
move. Students by the end of the class will record their definition of choreograph and this will be
used a formative assessment.

For week two of the unit students will be introduced to the game Dance party 2019.
Dance Party 2019 is a digital game available for free on the internet. Students can access the
game through their student device. The premise of the game is to code a character to perform a
dance. The game starts out with students completing 10 introductory to coding levels. This
portion of the game is the focus for week #2 of the unit. Each student will start at level 1. Each
level of the introduction gets harder and more complicated. The first level of the game starts
with introducing students the basics of how to code a character to just move. The subsequent
levels of the game teach the students how to code specific dance moves, time dance moves and
breaks, introduce music, etc. Upon completing each level of the game, the student is prompted
with a screen that lets them know if they completed the level successfully or if they failed the
level. If a student fails a level, they can retry the level as many times as they need. The goal for
the students is to finish all 10 levels of the introduction by the end of the class. This activity will
be done with the teacher. The teacher will be walking the students through each level using their
smart board. For the assessment, the teacher will record if everyone was able to access the game.
Dance: Choreographing and Performing 4

For week three of the unit students will access the game Dance Party 2019 and complete
the introduction on their own. The students will record how many tries each level takes them to
complete on the Dance Party Level Up worksheet (see appendix B.). The focus of this activity is
for students to become comfortable with coding a character to dance. The second activity of
week three has students choreographing their own dance. Students will choose 10 dance moves
from the game. Students will then put them in an order of their choosing in a choreographed
dance. The students will record this choreographed dance in the Dance Party Choreograph
worksheet (see appendix C.)

Week four of the unit has students coding their choreographed dance and practicing the
dance in person. Students will use the whole class to code their character to perform the dance
that they choreographed. During this time students will also practice the dance in person.
Students will make sure that the dance has all the elements required for the summative
assessment for the dance performance (see appendix D.). By the end of the class each student
will decided how they would like to perform their dance for the following class. Students have
the option to perform the dance in person or digitally through their character and the dance that
they coded or as a duet with their charatcer.

Week five students will perform their dance. The students will be assessed using the
Dance Party rubric (see appendix D.). Students can choose to perform the dance in person or
digitally through their character and the dance that they coded in week 4 or as a duet with their
character. This is a culminating activity that takes everything they learned over the previous 4
weeks. Each student should have choreographed a dance that consist of 8-10 dance moves,
practiced the dance in person, coded the dance, and performed the dance in person or digitally
for the class.

Game Theory

Throughout the design of this unit, I used two main game theories to drive the unit
creation and game integration. The first game theory used is Digital Game Based Learning or
DGBL and the second game theory used is Meaningful Gamification.

DGBL is the idea that digital games can be integrated into the classroom to help teach
and progress content and learning. These games can be integrated in varying depths. The games
Dance: Choreographing and Performing 5

came be used with as being there to just assist with an activity or can be integrated to the point
that a whole unit revolves around the digital game. Richard Van Eck has touched on some of the
positive research and outcomes from using DGBL in the classroom. Van Eck states that games
can promote learning on all levels but states that it is most effective with problem solving and
collaboration, referring to games that are simulation based (Van Eck, 2011). Van Eck also goes
on to suggest that games can change the player/learners brain structure. Improving on cortical
thickness, he states that games can “impact cognitive function, socialization, and other physical,
emotional, and behavioral outcomes” (Van Eck, 2011). There has been research over the years
have suggest mixed reviews to using game-based learning and digital game-based learning in the
classroom though. One of the big proponents of using games in the classroom is the idea that it
can help relay the content to the learner in a way that traditional classrooms cannot (Holmes &
Gee, 2016). The user becomes immersed within the game and often the learning that is taking
place does not feel like learning at all. Jessica Stansbury says, “the use of immersive learning
environments in games can harness the potential to embody the learner in contextual
experiences” (Stansbury, 2017). It is a mix of this immersion and today’s societal feelings
towards digital games that has given rise to more stable and accepted research into game-based
learning, more specifically DGBL. With the number of children growing up with some sort of
video game experience, stronger Wi-Fi connections with an estimated 73% of Americans having
internet connections in their house, and a generation of gamers who have now become teachers
and professors it is no wonder that major growth in the GBL and DGBL fields has taken place in
the last ten years (Holmes & Gee, 2016). Holmes and Gee talk about this in their paper
“Framework for understanding game-based teaching and learning”. Holmes and Gee discuss
how students, today, are bringing a world of various gaming experience with them to the
classrooms, and describe those students as having a “passion for gaming” (Holmes & Gee,
2016). But like with any research topic, especially ones around the education community there
are critics to be found. In the early 1980’s video games were just emerging on the scene, and
with this were innovators who saw potential use for the classroom, but also critics who did not
understand the potential of video games. Part of the hesitation to games being used in the
classroom stemmed from poor game design. With the focus on revenue and mass-production,
and the availability of video games limited to coin operated machines and enormous costs for at
home systems, video games wouldn’t have their chance to rise and show their potential until the
Dance: Choreographing and Performing 6

early 2000’s. Even still there are critics today. Holmes and Gee think that game-based learning
and DGBL are “perceived, at least by some, as a “novel or marginal practice” (Holmes & Gee,
2016). Jessica Stansbury also states that research surrounding the topic has been mixed, even
though games today often have massive immersive worlds, game play feedback, instructional
support features, engaging narratives and story lines, and that games have been shown to support
higher order of thinking (Stansbury, 2017). Stansbury reports that there are a few studies
available that report no difference between game and nongame-based instruction. But she also
reports that when targeted games are used in the classroom with clear and targeted leaning
objectives there are positive result with using game-based learning (Stansbury, 2017).

The second game theory that I used to design my dance choreographing unit was
meaningful gamification. Gamification is when a teacher or instructor uses a game or game like
setting to drive their instruction and learning (Nicholson, 2015). This could be as simple as
taking a simple math lesson and creating points earned for correct answers and using
leaderboards, rewards, levels, badges, or achievements (Nicholson, 2015). There has been strong
research that suggest this type of learning system can work effectively in a classroom, often
giving a nod to Skinner and his operant conditioning theory (Nicholson, 2015). But Nicholson
has made a strong point for limiting use of such gamification systems in his paper “A Recipe for
meaningful gaming”. Nicholson claims that these types of classroom gamification, where the
focus is reward based often loose their power once the reward system is taken out of the
classroom and the learning (Nicholson, 2015). He states that “if you take the reward out the
desired behavior will likely stop” (Nicholson, 2015). To combat this Nicholson, suggest that
teachers and instructors find ways to create meaningful gamification. Meaningful gamification
is when game design elements are “used to help build intrinsic motivation and, therefore
meaning in non-game settings” (Nicholson, 2015). Intrinsic motivation is a leading factor in the
argument for the use of meaningful gamification. Nicholson suggest that using intrinsic
motivations in place of extrinsic rewards create a more healthy “mental state” (Nicholson, 2015).
Using this intrinsic motivation coupled with a game designed to create a variety of experiences
that are engaging to the player/student is the idea behind meaningful gamification.

To help design my unit of instruction I used Nicholson’s recipe for meaningful

gamification. This recipe follows 6 key elements: play, exposition, choice, information,
Dance: Choreographing and Performing 7

engagement, and reflection. Play is allowing students to have freedom within the game. They
get a chance to explore the game or game world, get lost, and make mistakes with limited
repercussions (Nicholson, 2015). Exposition is the world, setting, story within the game where
students can become fully immersed (Nicholson, 2015). Choice is allowing the students to have
a degree of control over their game interactions (Nicholson, 2015). Information is when the
game and the game design “allow participants to learn more about the real world” (Nicholson,
2015). Engagement is how engaged the students are, giving the students a chance to “discover
and learn” from others and the environment within the game (Nicholson, 2015). Finally,
reflection is allowing students to meld interest with past experiences to “deepen engagement and
learning” (Nicholson, 2015).

Game Theory and Unit Integration

I used DGBL and this recipe for meaningful gamification, along with the 6 key elements
Scott Nicholson lays out to design my unit of instruction.

The setting that my unit takes place in is a Physical Education classroom in a gymnasium.
This unit was designed for elementary school students, specifically 5th grade students. Holmes
and Gee state that “games and play may be perceived as more appropriate in learning
environments for younger students” and that much of the growth “in GBTL (game-based
teaching and learning) over the last decade has taken place in K-12 settings. For this reason, it
seemed appropriate to use game-based learning to drive my unit design. Because of video game
access being more accessible to students in today’s world I narrowed down the type of game-
based learning to digital-game based learning. I used the video game Dance Party 2019 to help
me teach my students how to choreograph a dance. Holmes and Gee say that one way to use
DGBL is to “weave” the game play into the instruction (Holmes & Gee, 2016). This was my
focus for game integration within my unit. I used Dance Party within the instruction to give
students an alternative reality for choreographing a dance. They were able to do this through
learning how to code. As they learned how to code students will also be choreographing a
dance, hopefully getting lost in the coding activities and game to the point that the dance
choreographing becomes a second thought but still takes root. I used the game and game play
within the unit to help emphasize situated experiences as described by Holmes and Gee (Holmes
& Gee, 2016).
Dance: Choreographing and Performing 8

The second learning theory I used when designing my unit was meaningful gamification.
I used the elements of gamification and meaningful gamification laid out by Jessica Stansbury,
Holmes and Gee, and Scott Nicholson to help me with the design and integration of this theory.

Scott Nicholson lays a framework for educators and instructors to follow when
implementing meaningful gamification into instruction that he calls the recipe for meaningful
gamification. It is within this framework that I found meaningful ways to gamify my unit of
instruction, by using his recipe for meaningful gamification and the 6 key elements he presented
in his paper “A Recipe for meaningful gamification”.

Element number 1 is play. Element one and play is all about giving the students a chance
to explore and fail (Nicholson, 2015). During week 1 I present the students with the opportunity
to learn and practice several dances they will encounter in the game Dance Party 2019. They
have the chance to be creative with their movements. There is no expectation at this time.
Instead, the students should be encouraged to explore each movement and how their body can be
manipulated to recreate the movements. I also use the element of play in week two and three of
the unit. During these subsequent week’s students are introduced to the video game Dance Party
2019. Here they have the chance to code a character to perform a dance. It starts with the
students completing a tutorial. It is expected that the students are going to fail at various points
and level while coding their dance. This element of failing but being able to retry a level as need
incorporates Nicholson’s element of play within the unit. Drawing a connection to them making
their characters dance through coding and the challenges that come with it and their own
personal struggle to recreating the dance movements in real life will help build on real-life
connections between the game and the content (Nicholson, 2015).

Element 2, exposition, is allowing the students to create stories on their own in a real
world setting (Nicholson, 2015). During the unit students are choreographing their own dance.
They do this by choosing what dance moves they wish their character to perform but also by
choosing dance moves that they themselves wish to do also. They pick out their music, each
dance move, and when to start and change the dance moves. This ability to take charge from
start to finish, choose the music, how they and their character are going to dance gives the
student a sense of creating a story narrative in their dance world.
Dance: Choreographing and Performing 9

Choice is the third key element in Scott Nicholson’s recipe. Students throughout the
lesson have many choices to make. From the music they want their dance to be performed to the
actual individual dance moves they wish to perform, this unit is all about choice. This gives the
students a chance to not only choreograph their dance but an outlet to express themselves in new
and creative ways.

The 4th element is information. Information is when the students have the chance to learn
more about “real-world settings” (Nicholson, 2015). Through the video game play students will
learn what it means to be a choreographer. Students will have the chance to not only research
what it means and create their own definition but also, they will be able to immerse themselves
in the role of choreographers. They will be able to do this though the game play. The students
will be able to code their character to move in ways that they wish. Starting movements on
specific music breaks, allowing their characters to change positions, and much more. Through
the game play the students will not only develop definitions of choregraphing but they will
develop experiences to relate to the definition they created.

Engagement and reflection are the 5th and 6th element of the Nicholson’s recipe.
Engagement is allowing students to learn from others in the setting (Nicholson, 2015). Reflection
is assisting students using past experiences and interest to deepen learning (Nicholson, 2015).
Throughout the unit students will be encouraged to work with partners and the teacher. This
peer relationship can help the students get a better understanding of what it means to
choreograph a dance and collaborating. By comparing the definition they created and what they
envisioned their dance to look like to that of their peers in the class. The final activity has the
students either performing their dance in person, digitally through their character, or as a duet
with their character. Other students in the class will have a chance to give feedback on this
performance. This feedback and the engagement from it will help the students revise their
definition and develop a deeper understanding of choreographing.

Conclusion

Research has been mixed when it comes to game-based learning and the impact it has on
students (Stansbury, 2017). But with today’s generation being exposed to games earlier in life
coupled with an increase in technology and game accessibility the research supporting game-
based learning and digital game-based learning is increasing (Van Eck, 2011). The goal of this
 Dance: Choreographing and Performing
10

unit was for a learner to walk away with an understanding of what it means to choreograph a
dance. They are to gain this understanding through physical activities such as learning dance
moves, creating a written definition, completing a written choreographed dance, and finally
performing a dance they choreographed. Through DGBL and meaningful gamification I was
able to use the video game Dance Party 2019 to help the students reach the goals and objectives
of the unit. Students are given the chance to explore, fail, succeed, get lost in the dance creation
process with music and movements throughout their gaming in-order to meet the goals and
objectives of the unit. Integrating DGBL and meaningful gamification helped take a lesson that
many students may not like or relate to and give it new life so that today’s students can walk
away with new content understandings and knowledge.
 Dance: Choreographing and Performing
11

Unit: Dance Party/Code a dance

Grade level: 5th grade

Unit length: 5 weeks

Materials

 Student devices
 Dance Party 2019
 Dance Party worksheets and rubric

Website(s)

 Introduction coding activity - https://studio.code.org/s/dance-2019/lessons/1/levels/1

 Choreograph a Dance Party activity-
https://studio.code.org/s/dance-2019/lessons/1/levels/10

Learning Objectives

Over a four-week unit, students will identify various dance moves, practice these dance moves
both themselves and digitally. Students will be introduced how to choreograph a dance and will
use this to choreograph their own dance. Students will also be introduced to coding, the basics
to block chain coding, and how to code a dance in the game Dance Party 2019.

Students will be able to identify 11 basic dance moves.

Students will practice the 11 dance moves to gain a better understanding of each dance
movement.

Students will be introduced to Dance Party 2019. Students will complete the basic code
introduction with the teacher.

Students will perform a basic code task on their own in order to gain an understanding of coding,
how to sequence code, and how to make a character dance in the game Dance Party 2019.

Students will choreograph a dance for a performance performed by their persons and/or their
character in the game Dance Party 2019.

Essential Questions
1. What is coding?
2. What does choreographing a dance mean?
3. How does choreographing a dance relate to physical education?
Week# and objectives
Week #1
Obj- Students will be able to
identify what it means to
choreograph a dance.
Students will learn, practice,
and perform 11 basic dance
moves.
Dance: Choreographing and Performing
12
Activities Assessment(s)
Activity #1- Students will use Summative assessment#1-
their device to research what Students will be assessed on
it means to choreographing a their understanding and/or
dance. Students will write ability to perform the 11
down in their own words a dance moves practiced. This
definition for choreographing. is done through teacher
observation and informal.
Activity #2- Whole class
setting, teacher led activity. Summative assessment #2 -
Students will learn and Students will create their own
practice 11 basic dance definition of what it means to
moves (that they will choreograph a dance. See
encounter in the digital game appendix A.
Dance Party 2019.
Body roll, clap high, dab,
double down, drop, floss,
fresh, Gangnam, star, this or
that, zombie.
The teacher will play each
dance move via YouTube for
the students to get a visual
representation. The teacher
and the students will break
down each of the dance
moves step by step. The

Week #2
Obj- Students will be
introduced to Dance Party
2019. Students will complete
the basic code introduction
with the teacher.
Week #3
Obj- Students will complete
the coding introduction on
their own. Once completed
students will begin to
Dance: Choreographing and Performing
13
students will then practice the
dance move for 2-5 minutes.
Activity #1- Teacher led Summative assessment-
activity. Students will watch Students will access the game
how the teacher accesses the Dance Party 2019.
game Dance Party 2019 on
the internet. Students using Students will complete the
their device will access the coding introduction with the
game. teacher.
Students will show that they
Activity #2- Students will can navigate the coding
complete the basic dance introduction activity with
coding introduction activity. teacher assistance.
The teacher will walk the
students step by step through
all ten level of the basic
coding introduction. The
students on their device will
follow along with the teacher.
At the end of the activity
students will have completed
the introduction with the
teacher’s assistance.
Activity #1- Students will Summative assessment-
access the Dance Party Students will complete the
coding activity. Students will introduction coding activity.
then complete the
introduction coding activity Formative- Students will
on their own. Students will complete all ten of the

choreograph a dance.
Week #4
Obj- Students will
choreograph a dance for their
character in Dance Party to
perform.
Dance: Choreographing and Performing
14
attempt to score a “complete” introduction activities scoring
for all ten levels. a “complete” for each level.
Recording how many tries
Activity #2- Students will each level took them on the
pick a song from the game Dance party Level Up
Dance Party 2019. Students worksheet.
will then choreograph a dance See Appendix B.
in the gym. As they
choreograph the dance Students will complete the
students will record on a Dance Party Choreography
piece of paper each dance work sheet.
move, making revisions, and
edits as they go. Students
will record their final dance
on paper.
Activity #1- Students will Summative assessment-
work individually or with a Teacher observation for both
partner. Students will use activity #1 and #2
their choreographed dance
from the previous week to During this time the teacher
guide them. Students will will be available to help any
code their characters in the students with choreographing,
game Dance Party to perform dance performance, or
the dance that they coding.
choreographed. Students will
choose what dance moves
and music the character will
perform.
The finished product will be a
coded dance by their

Week #5
Obj- Students will perform a
dance that they
choreographed in person or
digitally for their peers.
Dance: Choreographing and Performing
15
character.
Activity #2- students will
practice their dance that they
choreographed and coded.
Students will decide if they
want to perform the dance for
the class themselves or have
the character in the game
perform the dance.
Activity- Students will Formative assessment-
choose one of the following Students will perform a dance
options. for the class. Students will be
1. Perform a dance that graded on the Dance Party
they choreographed in Rubric.
person for the class.
2. Have their character
from the game
perform the dance that
they choreographed
and coded.
 Dance: Choreographing and Performing
16

Appendix A.

What does choreograph mean? Please create your own definition.

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Pick three dance moves that we practiced today and put choreograph them in an order you would
like to perform them in.

1.____________________________________________________________________________

2.____________________________________________________________________________

3.____________________________________________________________________________
 Dance: Choreographing and Performing
17

Appendix B. Dance Party Level Up!

Record how many tries each level takes you to complete in the chart below. Place a check in the
box if you attemtted a try. Place a smily face 😊 in the box on the try # you completed the level.

Level # Try #1 Try #2 Try #3 Try #4 Try #5 Try #6 Try #7 Try #8 Try #9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
 Dance: Choreographing and Performing
18

Appendix C. Dance Party Choreography

Fill in each bubble with a dance move from Dance Party. Practice your dance once you have
filled out the chart. Change any moves that feel need to be changed or any moves that just do not
fit with the dance you picture performing. You are going to use this chart to help choreograph
and code a dance for your character in Dance Party. You are then on the final day perform this
dance either in person yourself or through your character in the game through code.

1. 2. 3. 4.

11

5. 6. 7.

8. 9. 10.
 Dance: Choreographing and Performing
19

Appendix D

Rubric for Dance Party: Code, choreograph, and performing a dance.

Elements for Below standard Meets standard Above standard

evaluation 1 point (LS or low 2 points 3 points
score recorded)
Coding Student has not Students has created Student has coded a
attempted to code a a coded dance in the character dance in the
character in the game game Dance Party. game Dance Party.
Dance Party or has The student included The coded dance
completed a limited 5-7 lines of coded includes 8+ lines of
amount of code. dance moves. coded dance moves.
Student has included
less then 1 line of
code.
Dance choreography The student did not The student The student
complete a choreographed a choreographed a
choreographed dance dance sequence dance sequence
sequence. The consisting of 5-7 consisting of 8-10
student dance moves. The dance moves. The
choreographed les student showed an student showed an
then 3 dance moves. understanding of advanced
dance and understanding of
choreographing. dance, music, and
choreographing.
Dance performance The student The student The student
performed a dance performed a dance performed a dance
either in person or either in person or either in person or
digitally that digitally that digitally that
consisted of less than consisted of 5-7 consisted of 8-10
 Dance: Choreographing and Performing
20

3 dance moves for the dance moves for the dance moves for the
class. class. class.

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