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TWO young girls focus on a monitor in front of them as one of them steers a blue dog through a bright pink and purple tunnel using a computer mouse. Against a background buzz of classroom noise, a boy nearby is guiding an animated Mini Cooper car around a simple on-screen maze.

There is nothing unusual in 10 and 11-year-olds playing computer games, but the pupils at St Mary’s Church of England Primary School near Wolverhampton in the UK are no mere gamers. They are testing games that they have designed and programmed themselves to help even younger children develop…

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