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The presented paper summarises the preliminary results of qualitative research carried out among teachers at a game-making course for primary school pupils in Slovakia. The objective of the course is to encourage a holistic approach to the game-making process, as it focuses on the three major aspects of a game – programming games, game design and game art. Pupils who attend the game-making course can choose for themselves what they want to learn and which aspects they want to prioritize when they create their computer games. Since the course had been operating for a few years, a number of teachers had experience with pupils who had been attending the course for years and they saw many of pupils become independent creators. The presented research was focused on the teachers’ experience with these pupils. Data was collected through structured interviews with the most experienced teachers at the course. The main objectives of these interviews were to analyse the learning model of the course; how pupils gradually become autonomous creators of games and how they approach the game-making process of their games, but also to better understand the role that programming of games plays in teaching programming in primary schools. This paper focuses on additional skills that teachers noticed that pupils developed as results of the continuous game-making process at the course. The analysis of interviews identified shifts in pupils’ attitudes to both the game-making process and their learning, but also practices regarding problem-solving, self-regulation, planning of a project and use of instructional tutorials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread use of online education all over the world inevitably leads to problems of self-regulation, since the effective development of online education is impossible without mastering the skills to control and correct one's activities. Conscious self-regulation is of particular importance for managing the learning process. The article aims at studying the mental mechanisms of self-regulation of students' states in the course of the educational process. The study revealed the typical characteristics of psychological states at lectures, seminars and exams, showed the specifics of the states, depending on the forms of education. We have shown that the effectiveness of self-regulation of students’ mental states significantly affects the productivity of passing exams. Among the mental states of highly effective students, such cognitive states as interest, thoughtfulness and concentration are particularly important. The regulatory properties of the personality (adequacy, awareness, independence and assertiveness) ensure high efficiency of self-regulation. In addition, students with high self-regulation efficiency are more likely to turn to regulatory means. The study confirmed the original hypothesis about the central role of the characteristics of consciousness in the regulation of mental states. For students, regardless of the conditions of the educational activity (lecture, seminar, exam), we identified four leading factors that represent the characteristics of the mental states. The study of self-regulation of cognitive states will be useful for general and educational psychology. It can also find an application in the management of students' cognitive activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]