research-article

Wu's castle: teaching arrays and loops in a game

Authors:

Tiffany BarnesAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE '08: Proceedings of the 13th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education

Pages 245 - 249

https://doi.org/10.1145/1384271.1384337

Published: 30 June 2008 Publication History

Abstract

We are developing games to teach introductory computer science concepts to increase student motivation and engagement in learning to program. Wu's Castle is a two-dimensional role playing game that teaches loops and arrays in an interactive, visual way. In this game, the player interactively programs magical creatures to create armies of snowmen. The game provides immediate feedback and helps students visualize the execution of their code in a safe environment. We tested the game in a CS1 course, where students could earn extra credit to play Wu's Castle. Our results show learning gains for game players, compared both through pre- and post-tests differences and improved performance on relevant final exam questions when compared to students who did not play the game. The results of this study suggest that Wu's Castle implements good practices for teaching programming within a game.

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Cited By

Priya SBhadra SChimalakonda SVenigalla A(2022) ML-Quest : a game for introducing machine learning concepts to K-12 students Interactive Learning Environments10.1080/10494820.2022.208411532:1(229-244)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2022
https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2022.2084115
Canossa ALozano Angulo ALaris Pardo L(2022)Validating Learning Games, a Case StudyHCI in Games10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_25(399-413)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_25
Tacouri HNagowah L(2021)Code Saga – A Mobile Serious Game For Learning Programming2021 IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things and Intelligence Systems (IoTaIS)10.1109/IoTaIS53735.2021.9628484(190-195)Online publication date: 23-Nov-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/IoTaIS53735.2021.9628484
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Index Terms

Wu's castle: teaching arrays and loops in a game

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Experimental evaluation of an educational game for improved learning in introductory computing
SIGCSE '09

We are developing games to increase student learning and attitudes in introductory CS courses. Wu's Castle is a game where students program changes in loops and arrays in an interactive, visual way. The game provides immediate feedback and helps ...
Wu's castle: teaching arrays and loops in a game
ITiCSE '08

We are developing games to teach introductory computer science concepts to increase student motivation and engagement in learning to program. Wu's Castle is a two-dimensional role playing game that teaches loops and arrays in an interactive, visual way. ...
Experimental evaluation of an educational game for improved learning in introductory computing
SIGCSE '09: Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education

We are developing games to increase student learning and attitudes in introductory CS courses. Wu's Castle is a game where students program changes in loops and arrays in an interactive, visual way. The game provides immediate feedback and helps ...

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ITiCSE '08: Proceedings of the 13th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education

June 2008

394 pages

ISBN:9781605580784

DOI:10.1145/1384271

Conference Chairs:
June Amillo
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
,
Cary Laxer
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, USA
,
Program Chairs:
Ernestina Menasalvas
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
,
Alison Young
Unitec, New Zealand

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 40, Issue 3
ITiCSE '08
September 2008
362 pages
ISSN:0097-8418
DOI:10.1145/1597849
Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2008 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 30 June 2008

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ITiCSE '08

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ITiCSE '08: 13th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

June 30 - July 2, 2008

Madrid, Spain

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ITiCSE '08 Paper Acceptance Rate 60 of 150 submissions, 40%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

Priya SBhadra SChimalakonda SVenigalla A(2022) ML-Quest : a game for introducing machine learning concepts to K-12 students Interactive Learning Environments10.1080/10494820.2022.208411532:1(229-244)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2022
https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2022.2084115
Canossa ALozano Angulo ALaris Pardo L(2022)Validating Learning Games, a Case StudyHCI in Games10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_25(399-413)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_25
Tacouri HNagowah L(2021)Code Saga – A Mobile Serious Game For Learning Programming2021 IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things and Intelligence Systems (IoTaIS)10.1109/IoTaIS53735.2021.9628484(190-195)Online publication date: 23-Nov-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/IoTaIS53735.2021.9628484
Weanquoi PZhang JYuan XXu JJones E(2021)Learn Access Control Concepts in a Game2021 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE49875.2021.9637228(1-6)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE49875.2021.9637228
Gomes ATeixeira AMendes A(2021)A New Methodology to Learn Loops: Validation through Brain Computer InteractionAugmented Cognition10.1007/978-3-030-78114-9_3(33-48)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2021
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78114-9_3
Paiva JLeal JQueirós R(2020)Fostering Programming Practice through GamesInformation10.3390/info1111049811:11(498)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2020
https://doi.org/10.3390/info11110498
Rojas-Salazar AHaahr M(2020)Theoretical Foundations and Evaluations of Serious Games for Learning Data Structures and Recursion: A ReviewSerious Games10.1007/978-3-030-61814-8_11(135-149)Online publication date: 28-Oct-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61814-8_11
Gomes AKe WLam CTeixeira ACorreia FMarcelino MMendes A(2019)Understanding loops: a visual methodology2019 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Education (TALE)10.1109/TALE48000.2019.9225951(1-7)Online publication date: Dec-2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE48000.2019.9225951
Corda FOnnis MPes MSpano LScateni R(2019)BashDungeonMultimedia Tools and Applications10.1007/s11042-019-7230-378:10(13731-13746)Online publication date: 1-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11042-019-7230-3
Guzdial M(2015)Learner-Centered Design of Computing Education: Research on Computing for EveryoneSynthesis Lectures on Human-Centered Informatics10.2200/S00684ED1V01Y201511HCI0338:6(1-165)Online publication date: 30-Nov-2015
https://doi.org/10.2200/S00684ED1V01Y201511HCI033
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