ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we explore the potential of encouraging students to invent their own games as a context for learning. This approach presents an alternative to the conventional approach where the teacher selects games and encourages active participation. By encouraging students to invent games, teachers can provide opportunities for students to understand how the nature of games and ethical game play emerge from the constraints imposed by each game form. We will first outline the concepts of Inventing Games and situated ethics. We then define the concept of enabling constraints and explore its potential in Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) in general and, more specifically, as teachers and students use them to co-create the rules and structures of Invented Games. We draw upon data from a research project conducted in the fall of 2007, which explored Inventing Games as a medium for learning about ethical behaviour.
