Proglets for first-year programming in Java

Edmondson, Carol

doi:10.1145/1595453.1595486

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…They may submit implementations of the method, which are then evaluated against a set of test cases. Edmonson's approach is to use proglets [2] to focus students' attention on a single aspect of a programming problem, highlighting fundamentals and helping students build confidence before being asked to produce "assignment quality" code.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the syntax barrier for novices

Denny

Luxton-Reilly

Tempero

et al. 2011

Proceedings of the 16th Annual Joint Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

104

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Mastering syntax is one of the earliest challenges facing the novice programmer. Problem solving and algorithms are the focus of many first year programming classes, leaving students to learn syntax on their own while they practice writing code. In this paper we investigate the frequency with which students encounter syntax errors during a drill and practice activity. We find that students struggle with syntax to a greater extent than we anticipated, even when writing short fragments of code.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the syntax barrier for novices

Denny

Luxton-Reilly

Tempero

et al. 2011

Proceedings of the 16th Annual Joint Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Shorn (2018) discusses a gamification approach to teaching programming. Some text-based drill-and-practice tools on the web-based on the idea of "proglets" (Edmondson, 2009) may be included in this category [for example, see CodeWrite (Denny et al, 2011)]. In section 2.1, we outlined various categories of tools discussed in the CS Education research literature.…”

Section: Game-based Learning Systems (Educational Games Game Design T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoot2Learn: Fix-and-Play Educational Game for Learning Programming; Enhancing Student Engagement by Mixing Game Playing and Game Programming

Mohanarajah

Sritharan

2022

JITE:Research

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Aim/Purpose: The key objective of this research is to examine whether fix-and-play educational games improve students' performance in learning programming languages. We also quantified the flow experiences of the students and analyzed how the flow contributes to their academic performances. Background: Traditionally, learning the first computer programming language is considered challenging, In this study, we propose the fix-and-play gaming approach that utilizes the following three facts to alleviate certain difficulties associated with learning programming: 1. digital games are computer programs, 2. young students are fond of playing digital games, and 3. students are interested in creating their own games. Methodology: A simple casual game Shoot2Learn was created for learning the fundamentals of branching. A number of errors were intentionally implanted in the game at different levels, and the students were challenged to fix the bugs before continuing the game. During the play, the program keeps records of the student’s academic progress and the time logs at different stages to measure the flow experience of the students. The proposed approach was systematically evaluated using a quasi-experimental design in real classroom settings in two countries, Sri Lanka, and USA. Contribution: The results derived from this research provide empirical evidence that the fix-and-play educational games ease some challenges in learning programming and motivate the students to play and learn. Findings: The results show that the first-year programming students who play the fix-and-play game gain statistically significant improvement in their academic performance. However, the result fails to suggest a significant positive correlation between the flow experience and academic performance. Recommendations for Practitioners: Empowering the students to fix the bugs in the educational games they play will motivate them to stay in the game and learn continuously. However, we have to make sure that the types and timing of bugs do not hinder the flow experience of the players, Recommendation for Researchers: Students normally play industry-level high-quality games. Experience and interest in game-playing differ significantly between students. Gender difference also plays an important role in selecting game genres. We need to identify how to address these issues when resources are not sufficient to provide an individualized gaming experience. Impact on Society: Programming is an essential skill for computer science students. The outcome of this research shows that the proposed approach helps to reduce the disenchantment associated with learning the first programming language. Future Research: Further investigation is necessary to verify whether the AI techniques such as user modeling can be used in educational games to reduce the effects of uncertainty associated with the variations in students' gaming skills and other factors.

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