This systematic literature review examines the use of computer games as instructional aids in the teaching and learning of programming. With the ubiquitous nature of technology permeating various aspects of modern life, the integration of gaming devices into educational settings has garnered increased attention. This paper investigates whether…

Learning to code is far from an easy task, it is a promising approach that underscores the use of the video game culture of students to motivate them to invest their time in the practice of programming. The students in this discipline are often discouraged by the amount of information to remember and the complex and constraining syntaxes.…

One approach to teaching game design to students with a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds is through team game projects that span multiple weeks, up to an entire term. However, open-ended, creative projects introduce a gamut of challenges to novice programmers. My goal is to assist game design students with the planning stage of their…

Contribution: This research study deploys three serious games with various topics in an entry-level C Programming module and investigates students' learning outcomes. The study also explores whether learners belonging to different subgroups benefit more from the use of serious games than their peers. The subgroups are formed based on learner…

There has been an active movement towards fun learning, using games in education. This article introduces the text-based serious game "Rise of the Java Emperor" that aims to support students in learning basic object-oriented programming concepts using Java. Information concerning the analysis, the design and the pilot evaluation of the…

In this paper, we discuss the need for new approaches to research regarding coding to support students in developing practices in computational thinking, such as abstraction and decomposition, in multidisciplinary contexts. We explore students' activities with a tool integrating constructionist textual programming activity with game-based learning…

The importance of computational thinking (CT) as a 21st-century skill for future generations has been a key consideration in the reforms of many national and regional educational systems. Much attention has been paid to integrating CT into the traditional subject classrooms. This paper describes a scoping review of learning tools for integrating…

A typical first computer science course (CS1) introduces the student to coding conventions, variables, methods, control structures, conditionals, and the semantics of classes and objects. Advanced concepts of inheritance, polymorphism, abstract classes, interfaces, and their use in the design process, are covered in a second-level course (CS2).…

Although there is wide rhetoric that programming should be learnt by all as an element of computational thinking (CT), in practice, it is mostly implemented narrowly as an end in itself consisting of routine practice and traditional testing of the ability to code. This paper discusses a way in which programming could be seen through a wider…

Minority language communities lack access to educational technology that facilitates literacy skill building. The approach currently taken by most educational game app developers privileges widely spoken languages and often requires intensive resource investment. In response, a new game app was designed to provide easily localized, pedagogically…

This study used CodeMonkey, an online learning platform through which elementary teachers can learn programming while playing games and experience how to integrate STEM into their courses. The study analyzed and examined their experiences using a qualitative research method. According to the research results, learning programming while playing…

It is widely believed that there are educational benefits to making computer games, but there is no systematic review of research on this topic. This article describes a meta-synthesis of research on children designing and programming computer games that investigates the extent to which there is evidence of benefits for computer science learning…

According to Dudeney, Hockly, and Pegrum (2013) coding is a deeper skill subsumed under the four main digital literacies of language, connections, information, and (re)design. Coders or programmers are people who write the programmes behind everything we see and do on a computer. Most students spend several hours playing online games, but few know…

Using unplugged coding activities to promote computational thinking (CT) among secondary learners has become increasingly popular. Benefits of using unplugged coding activities involve the cost-effective implementation, the ability to promote computer science concepts and self-efficacy in learning computer programming, and the engaging nature of…

Context: Programming courses are compulsory for most engineering degrees, but students' performance on these courses is often not as good as expected. Programming is difficult for students to learn, given that it includes a lot of new, complex, and abstract topics. All of this has led experts to the conclusion that new teaching techniques are…