Problem based learning associated to the development of games for programming teaching
Valéria Farinazzo Martins, Ilana de Almeida Souza Concilio, Marcelo de Paiva Guimarães · Computer Applications in Engineering Education · 2018
Abstract The programming teaching faces serious challenges all over the world. Many students end up abandoning the Computer Science courses in their freshman years because they are not able to understand the concepts taught in introductory courses. On the other hand, the development of games is an opportunity for the students to perform an actual activity of the career and hence it may serve as an incentive to their motivation, commitment, and proactivity. This article describes a teaching approach based on the Problem Based Learning (PBL) methodology, which is associated to the development of educational games to drive the programming teaching in an introductory and practical course of programming teaching. The article presents details on the approach and how it was conducted in a case study with 30 students. The article also comprehends the approach's assessment, as well as the results got through the evaluation survey with students and teachers.