Abstract
In the last decade, there have been tremendous improvements in the IT field, and the demand for skilled professionals has ever since grown rapidly. For a better economic development, it is thus of primary importance for schools and universities to uncover and train new talents who will help propel our society’s upward trend in IT and meet the increasing demand. On the other hand, there is a misconception among youngsters that programming is complex and not designed for everyone. Using the fact that nowadays games are becoming increasingly popular especially among the younger generation, a mobile serious programming game, Code-Venture, is being proposed in this chapter. Other than being fun and entertaining, the aim of Code-Venture is to help the players understand the basics of coding and sharpen their skills in programming. Code-Venture is based on the fundamental programming principles as recommended in the ACM/IEEE Computer Science Curricula 2013. Moreover, through the implementation of the teacher’s application, which stores scoring information about the players of the game, a constant monitoring, assessment, and evaluation of the player’s performance can be performed. Pre-game and post-game surveys have been conducted to evaluate the mobile serious game Code-Venture. Most of the 35 respondents found the game useful and engaging with a considerable increase in the number of students who are willing to join a career in programming and another increase in the number of respondents who now found programming easy.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Papadakis, S., Kalogiannakis, M., Orfanakis, V., Zaranis, N.: Novice programming environments. Scratch & app inventor: a first comparison. In: Proceedings of the 2014 Workshop on Interaction Design in Educational Environments, pp. 1–7 (2014)
Miskon, M.T., Hilmi, F.D., Khusairi, W.A., Rustam, I.: Development of constructionist robotics to facilitate learning in C programming course. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 1529(2), 022039 (2020)
Mathew, R., Malik, S.I., Tawafak, R.M.: Teaching problem solving skills using an educational game in a computer programming course. Inf. Educ. 18(2), 359–373 (2019)
Lahtinen, E., Ala-Mutka, K., Järvinen, H.M.: A study of the difficulties of novice programmers. ACM SIGCSE Bull. 37(3), 14–18 (2005)
Bennedsen, J., Caspersen, M.E.: Failure rates in introductory programming. ACM SIGCSE Bull. 39(2), 32–36 (2007)
Bennedsen, J., Caspersen, M.E.: Failure rates in introductory programming: 12 years later. ACM Inroads. 10(2), 30–36 (2019)
Lye, S.Y., Koh, J.H.L.: Review on teaching and learning of computational thinking through programming: what is next for K-12? Comput. Hum. Behav. 41, 51–61 (2014)
Halbrook, Y.J., O’Donnell, A.T., Msetfi, R.M.: When and how video games can be good: a review of the positive effects of video games on well-being. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 14(6), 1096–1104 (2019)
Schez-Sobrino, S., Vallejo, D., Glez-Morcillo, C., Redondo, M.Á., Castro-Schez, J.J.: RoboTIC: a serious game based on augmented reality for learning programming. Multimed. Tools Appl. 79, 34079–34099 (2020)
Shahid, M., Wajid, A., Haq, K.U., Saleem, I., Shujja, A.H.: A review of gamification for learning programming fundamental. In: 2019 International Conference on Innovative Computing (ICIC), pp. 1–8. IEEE (2019)
Mathrani, A., Christian, S., Ponder-Sutton, A.: PlayIT: game based learning approach for teaching programming concepts. J. Educ. Technol. Soc. 19(2), 5–17 (2016)
Boeker, M., Andel, P., Vach, W., Frankenschmidt, A.: Game-based e-learning is more effective than a conventional instructional method: a randomized controlled trial with third-year medical students. PLoS One. 8(12) (2013)
Ding, D., Guan, C., Yu, Y.: Game-based learning in tertiary education: a new learning experience for the generation Z. Int. J. Inf. Educ. Technol. 7(2), 148 (2017)
Cheng, M.T., Chen, J.H., Chu, S.J., Chen, S.Y.: The use of serious games in science education: a review of selected empirical research from 2002 to 2013. J. Comput. Educ. 2, 353–375 (2015)
Krath, J., Schürmann, L., Von Korflesch, H.F.: Revealing the theoretical basis of gamification: a systematic review and analysis of theory in research on gamification, serious games and game-based learning. Comput. Hum. Behav. 125, 106963 (2021)
Zainuddin, Z., Chu, S.K.W., Shujahat, M., Perera, C.J.: The impact of gamification on learning and instruction: a systematic review of empirical evidence. Educ. Res. Rev. 30, 100326 (2020)
Qian, M., Clark, K.R.: Game-based learning and 21st century skills: a review of recent research. Comput. Hum. Behav. 63, 50–58 (2016)
Tori, A.A., Tori, R., Nunes, F.L.: Serious Game Design in Health Education: A Systematic Review. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (2022)
Jemmali, C., Yang, Z.: May’s journey: a serious game to teach middle and high school girls programming. Master’s thesis, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (2016)
Du, J., Wimmer, H., Rada, R.: “Hour of Code”: can it change students’ attitudes toward programming? J. Inf. Technol. Educ. Innov. Pract. 15, 53 (2016)
Miljanovic, M.A., Bradbury, J.S.: Robot on! A serious game for improving programming comprehension. In: Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Games and Software Engineering, pp. 33–36 (2016)
Law, R.: Teaching programming using computer games: a program language agnostic approach. In: European Conference on Games Based Learning, pp. 368–376. Academic Conferences International Limited (2017)
Junaeti, E., Sutarno, H., Nurmalasari, R.R.: Genius learning strategy of basic programming in an adventure game. In: IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 288, No. 1, p. 012057. IOP Publishing (2018)
Jordaan, D.B.: Board games in the computer science class to improve students’ knowledge of the python programming language. In: 2018 International Conference on Intelligent and Innovative Computing Applications (ICONIC), pp. 1–5. IEEE (2018)
Lotfi, E., Mohammed, B.: Teaching object oriented programming concepts through a mobile serious game. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Smart City Applications, p. 74. ACM (2018)
Yallihep, M., Kutlu, B.: Mobile serious games: effects on students’ understanding of programming concepts and attitudes towards information technology. Educ. Inf. Technol., 1–18 (2019)
Zhao, D., Muntean, C., Muntean, G.: The Restaurant Game: a NEWTON PROJECT serious game for C programming courses. In: Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, pp. 1867–1874. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) (2019)
Karram, O.: The role of computer games in teaching object-oriented programming in high schools-code combat as a game approach. WSEAS Trans. Adv. Eng. Educ. 18, 37–46 (2021)
Toukiloglou, P., Xinogalos, S.: NanoDoc: designing an adaptive serious game for programming with working examples support. Eur. Conf. Games Based Learn. 16(1), 628–636 (2022)
Akkaya, A., Akpinar, Y.: Experiential serious-game design for development of knowledge of object-oriented programming and computational thinking skills. Comput. Sci. Educ. 32(4), 476–501 (2022)
Hacked. Google Play. [online]. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hackedapp&hl=en (2015). Accessed 2 Oct 2019
Coding Galaxy. App Store. [online]. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/coding-galaxy/id1240651393 (2022). Accessed 20 Feb 2023
Lightbot: Code Hour. App Store. [online]. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lightbot-code-hour/id873943739 (2018). Accessed 20 Feb 2023
SpriteBox: Code Hour. App Store. [online]. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spritebox-code-hour/id1161515477 (2018). Accessed 20 Feb 2023
Meoweb: The Puzzle Coding Game. Google Play. [online]. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=br.com.tapps.meoweb&hl=en&gl=US (2020). Accessed 20 Feb 2023
BeBlocky: Kids Code Easy. Google Play. [online]. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beblocky.beblocky&hl=en&gl=US (2022). Accessed 20 Feb 2023
Coding Planets. Google Play. [online]. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.material.design.codingplanet&hl=en&gl=US (2017). Accessed 10 Dec 2022
Grasshopper: Learn to Code. Google Play. [online]. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.area120.grasshopper&hl=en&gl=US (2023). Accessed 20 Feb 2023
Gomes, A., Mendes, A.J.: Problem solving in programming. In: PPIG, p. 18. (2007)
Ahmadzadeh, M., Elliman, D., Higgins, C.: The impact of improving debugging skill on programming ability. Innov. Teach. Learn. Inf. Comput. Sci. 6(4), 72–87 (2007)
Fucci, D., Turhan, B., Oivo, M.: On the effects of programming and testing skills on external quality and productivity in a test-driven development context. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, pp. 1–6 (2015)
Csernoch, M., Biró, P., Máth, J., Abari, K.: Testing algorithmic skills in traditional and non-traditional programming environments. Inf. Educ. 14(2), 175–197 (2015)
Futschek, G.: Algorithmic thinking: the key for understanding computer science. In: International Conference on Informatics in Secondary Schools-Evolution and Perspectives, pp. 159–168. Springer, Berlin (2006)
Farrell, J.: Programming Logic and Design, Comprehensive. Cengage Learning (2014)
ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula: Computer Science Curricula 2013. Technical Report. ACM Press and IEEE Computer Society Press (2013)
Disclosures
No funding was received for this article, and the authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nagowah, L., Cuniah, D. (2023). Code-Venture: A Mobile Serious Game for Introductory Programming. In: Cooper, K.M.L., Bucchiarone, A. (eds) Software Engineering for Games in Serious Contexts. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33338-5_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33338-5_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33337-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33338-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)