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LEGO Serious Play (LSP) is a methodology that helps people brainstorm and discuss complex ideas through storytelling and metaphors. LSP has been successfully applied in higher education as a mechanism for team building and promoting creativity. In this paper, we discuss using LSP to teach several core software engineering topics through hands-on case studies. Initial results suggest that LSP has a positive impact on student learning, while also improving student engagement with the course material. This paper describes the details of two LSP-based case studies along with many practical aspects of using LSP to teach software engineering.

Abstract

Computer games have been accepted as an engaging and motivating tool in the computer science (CS) curriculum. However, designing and implementing a playable game is challenging, and is best done in advanced courses. Games for mobile devices, on the other hand, offer the advantage of being simpler and, thus, easier to program for lower level students. Learning context of mobile game development can be used to reinforce many core programming topics, such as loops, classes, and arrays. Furthermore, it can also be used to expose students in introductory computing courses to a wide range of advanced topics in order to illustrate that CS can be much more than coding. This paper describes the author's experience with using mobile game development projects in CS I and II, how these projects were integrated into existing courses at several universities, and the lessons learned from this experience.