Principles of a debugging-first puzzle game for computing education

Michael J. Lee; Faezeh Bahmani; Irwin Kwan; Jilian Laferte; Polina Charters; Amber Horvath; Fanny Luor; Jill Cao; Catherine Law; Michael Beswetherick; Sheridan Long; Margaret Burnett; Andrew J. Ko

doi:10.1109/VLHCC.2014.6883023

Principles of a debugging-first puzzle game for computing education

Michael J. Lee, Faezeh Bahmani, Irwin Kwan, Jilian Laferte, Polina Charters, Amber Horvath, Fanny Luor, Jill Cao, Catherine Law, Michael Beswetherick, Sheridan Long, Margaret Burnett, Andrew J. Ko

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

68 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although there are many systems designed to engage people in programming, few explicitly teach the subject, expecting learners to acquire the necessary skills on their own as they create programs from scratch. We present a principled approach to teach programming using a debugging game called Gidget, which was created using a unique set of seven design principles. A total of 44 teens played it via a lab study and two summer camps. Principle by principle, the results revealed strengths, problems, and open questions for the seven principles. Taken together, the results were very encouraging: learners were able to program with conditionals, loops, and other programming concepts after using the game for just 5 hours.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Proceedings - 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society
Pages	57-64
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Print)	9781479940356
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2014.6883023
State	Published - 2014
Externally published	Yes
Event	2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014 - Melbourne, VIC, Australia Duration: Jul 28 2014 → Aug 1 2014

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC
ISSN (Print)	1943-6092
ISSN (Electronic)	1943-6106

Other

Other	2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014
Country/Territory	Australia
City	Melbourne, VIC
Period	7/28/14 → 8/1/14

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Computational Theory and Mathematics
Human-Computer Interaction
Software

Keywords

Computer science education
computational thinking
debugging
educational game
summer camp
user study

Access to Document

10.1109/VLHCC.2014.6883023

Cite this

Lee, M. J., Bahmani, F., Kwan, I., Laferte, J., Charters, P., Horvath, A., Luor, F., Cao, J., Law, C., Beswetherick, M., Long, S., Burnett, M., & Ko, A. J. (2014). Principles of a debugging-first puzzle game for computing education. In Proceedings - 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014 (pp. 57-64). Article 6883023 (Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC). IEEE Computer Society. https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2014.6883023

@inproceedings{07175429c98842cc885960d0020d7e3d,

title = "Principles of a debugging-first puzzle game for computing education",

abstract = "Although there are many systems designed to engage people in programming, few explicitly teach the subject, expecting learners to acquire the necessary skills on their own as they create programs from scratch. We present a principled approach to teach programming using a debugging game called Gidget, which was created using a unique set of seven design principles. A total of 44 teens played it via a lab study and two summer camps. Principle by principle, the results revealed strengths, problems, and open questions for the seven principles. Taken together, the results were very encouraging: learners were able to program with conditionals, loops, and other programming concepts after using the game for just 5 hours.",

keywords = "Computer science education, computational thinking, debugging, educational game, summer camp, user study",

author = "Lee, {Michael J.} and Faezeh Bahmani and Irwin Kwan and Jilian Laferte and Polina Charters and Amber Horvath and Fanny Luor and Jill Cao and Catherine Law and Michael Beswetherick and Sheridan Long and Margaret Burnett and Ko, {Andrew J.}",

year = "2014",

doi = "10.1109/VLHCC.2014.6883023",

language = "English (US)",

isbn = "9781479940356",

series = "Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC",

publisher = "IEEE Computer Society",

pages = "57--64",

booktitle = "Proceedings - 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014",

address = "United States",

note = "2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014 ; Conference date: 28-07-2014 Through 01-08-2014",

}

Lee, MJ, Bahmani, F, Kwan, I, Laferte, J, Charters, P, Horvath, A, Luor, F, Cao, J, Law, C, Beswetherick, M, Long, S, Burnett, M & Ko, AJ 2014, Principles of a debugging-first puzzle game for computing education. in Proceedings - 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014., 6883023, Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 57-64, 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 7/28/14. https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2014.6883023

Principles of a debugging-first puzzle game for computing education. / Lee, Michael J.; Bahmani, Faezeh; Kwan, Irwin et al.
Proceedings - 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014. IEEE Computer Society, 2014. p. 57-64 6883023 (Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

TY - GEN

T1 - Principles of a debugging-first puzzle game for computing education

AU - Lee, Michael J.

AU - Bahmani, Faezeh

AU - Kwan, Irwin

AU - Laferte, Jilian

AU - Charters, Polina

AU - Horvath, Amber

AU - Luor, Fanny

AU - Cao, Jill

AU - Law, Catherine

AU - Beswetherick, Michael

AU - Long, Sheridan

AU - Burnett, Margaret

AU - Ko, Andrew J.

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Although there are many systems designed to engage people in programming, few explicitly teach the subject, expecting learners to acquire the necessary skills on their own as they create programs from scratch. We present a principled approach to teach programming using a debugging game called Gidget, which was created using a unique set of seven design principles. A total of 44 teens played it via a lab study and two summer camps. Principle by principle, the results revealed strengths, problems, and open questions for the seven principles. Taken together, the results were very encouraging: learners were able to program with conditionals, loops, and other programming concepts after using the game for just 5 hours.

AB - Although there are many systems designed to engage people in programming, few explicitly teach the subject, expecting learners to acquire the necessary skills on their own as they create programs from scratch. We present a principled approach to teach programming using a debugging game called Gidget, which was created using a unique set of seven design principles. A total of 44 teens played it via a lab study and two summer camps. Principle by principle, the results revealed strengths, problems, and open questions for the seven principles. Taken together, the results were very encouraging: learners were able to program with conditionals, loops, and other programming concepts after using the game for just 5 hours.

KW - Computer science education

KW - computational thinking

KW - debugging

KW - educational game

KW - summer camp

KW - user study

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84907420068&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84907420068&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/VLHCC.2014.6883023

DO - 10.1109/VLHCC.2014.6883023

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:84907420068

SN - 9781479940356

T3 - Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC

SP - 57

EP - 64

BT - Proceedings - 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014

PB - IEEE Computer Society

T2 - 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014

Y2 - 28 July 2014 through 1 August 2014

ER -

Lee MJ, Bahmani F, Kwan I, Laferte J, Charters P, Horvath A et al. Principles of a debugging-first puzzle game for computing education. In Proceedings - 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2014. IEEE Computer Society. 2014. p. 57-64. 6883023. (Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC). doi: 10.1109/VLHCC.2014.6883023

Principles of a debugging-first puzzle game for computing education

Abstract

Publication series

Other

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this