BlocklyScript: Design and Pilot Evaluation of an RPG Platform Game for Cultivating Computational Thinking Skills to Young Students

Karakasis, Christodoulos; Xinogalos, Stelios

doi:10.15388/infedu.2020.28

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…BlocklyScript (Design and Pilot Evaluation of an RPG Platform Game for Cultivating Computational Thinking Skills to Young Students [31]): Karakasis and Xinogalos, the authors of this article, present a new educational game called BlocklyScript, which aims to teach basic programming concepts, algorithm design and error correction, skills that are intrinsic to computational thinking.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As noted by Jiang et al, since there is no design framework for developing this type of tool, it is difficult to establish a pattern that can be used to bridge or mitigate this gap [27]. Therefore, to provide a better user experience, it is necessary to follow certain design guidelines focusing on usability and multimodality [31], this being an iterative process that improves the final design of the product [24]. A proper evaluation of a software prototype is a fundamental part of the development process, as it provides useful information on usability and identifies potential problems so that the software can be improved later [36].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Computational Thinking and User Interfaces: A Systematic Review

2022

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This document presents a systematic bibliographic review that demonstrates the need to conduct research on how the user experience impacts the development of computational thinking.Background: In the field of computer science, computational thinking is defined as a method that enhances problem-solving skills, system design, and human behavior understanding. Over the last few decades, several tools have been proposed for the development of computational thinking skills; however, there is no area of study that evaluates the implications or the impact that these types of platforms have on users belonging to any knowledge area.Research Question: Do user interfaces influence the development of computational thinking skills?Methodology: To address this issue, a systematic review of the literature was conducted using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) methodology for analyzing and evaluating scientific publications.Findings: The results show that despite the dearth of literature on the subject, the specific design of a user interface has a significant impact on the development of computational thinking. Bearing the above in mind, it is necessary to conduct research that delves more deeply into the effects caused by the technologies that are used to develop computational thinking, this being a line of research that is worthy of consideration.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational Thinking and User Interfaces: A Systematic Review

2022

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“…In other hand, some works present proposals relating to CT: Barr and Stephenson (2011), Resnick (2012), Olmo, et al (2020), Karakasis and Xinogalos (2020). Other research addresses strategies and tools for evaluating it (Città et al, 2019;Rojas-López & García-Peñalvo, 2018;Román-González et al, 2017;Yadav et al, 2017).…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational thinking in computer science teacher training courses in Brazil: A survey and a research roadmap

Menolli

Neto

2021

Educ Inf Technol

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The adoption of computational thinking in the classroom has been growing in the last years. Its use needs to be supported by the correct digital technologies and teaching methods, and for this, is required, capable teachers. This work aims to understand how computational thinking is addressed by Computer Science Teacher Education courses in Brazil, and which digital technologies and teaching methods are used to foster it. A survey was conducted, and a roadmap was built. Main obtained results are: Common and accessible technologies, used in everyday life, can help promote computational thinking; Researchers and teachers can explore the list of technologies surveyed and categorized to promote computational thinking; Teachers can analyze the teaching methods used and understand how these methods are applied in the teaching process; The teachers and researchers can use and explore the best technologies identified in the paper, to foster each computational thinking characteristic. Moreover, it is essential to enhance the knowledge about computational thinking, to apply the correct digital technologies and teaching methods in its promotion.

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“…Several works use MEEGA+ to evaluate educational games in diverse areas, from computing to health [Karakasis and Xinogalos 2020, Tsopra et al 2020, Venigalla and Chimalakonda 2020. Moreover, it is common to notice adaptations of the questionnaire to fit it with the games to be evaluated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, it is common to notice adaptations of the questionnaire to fit it with the games to be evaluated. Karakasis and Xinogalos (2020) for example, deleted all MEEGA+ questions about social interaction with other players since this feature is not supported by BlockScript, an educational game that aims to help students develop their CT by learning basic programming concepts, designing algorithms, and correcting mistakes. Venigalla and Chimalakonda (2020) also omitted some dimensions of the questionnaire to evaluate their proposal: a game for novice programmers to learn debugging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A User Experience and Usability Test on Playing Games Specified as Graph Grammars in GrameStation

Silva¹,

Junior²,

Foss³

et al. 2022

Anais Do XXX Workshop Sobre Educação Em Computação (WEI 2022)

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GrameStation is a game engine based on Graph Grammar, a formal language used to describe systems and verify properties. Despite being intuitive, understanding a Graph Grammar may not be trivial for those who do not have previous experiences with this formalism. Therefore, we propose an experiment to analyze the support given by GrameStation during the running of games modeled as Graph Grammars in order to facilitate this understanding. We analyzed three groups of people with different levels of knowledge about Graph Grammar. They played two games in the platform and answered a questionnaire. It was found that the greatest difficulty was in understanding how to make the mappings to progress in the game and, as a consequence, the addition of tutorials in the platform was mentioned by several participants.

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BlocklyScript: Design and Pilot Evaluation of an RPG Platform Game for Cultivating Computational Thinking Skills to Young Students

Cited by 19 publications

References 24 publications

Computational Thinking and User Interfaces: A Systematic Review

Computational Thinking and User Interfaces: A Systematic Review

Computational thinking in computer science teacher training courses in Brazil: A survey and a research roadmap

A User Experience and Usability Test on Playing Games Specified as Graph Grammars in GrameStation

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