IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/simgam/v50y2019i6p754-770.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

PY-RATE ADVENTURES: A 2D Platform Serious Game for Learning the Basic Concepts of Programming With Python

Author

Listed:
  • Grigorios Sideris
  • Stelios Xinogalos

Abstract

Background. Learning programming is a cognitively demanding field of study accompanied with various difficulties. Although there is a high demand in the market for programmers, software analysts and engineers, a high dropout rate is recorded in relevant fields of study. Serious games are a promising means of engaging students in learning programming by giving them more incentives and making the process of learning programming concepts and languages more entertaining. Aim. This article introduces a new serious game called PY-RATE ADVENTURES, which aims to assist young students in their introduction to the basic programming concepts using Python . The game does not have any prerequisites and is suitable for players with no previous knowledge of programming. This article aims to present important information regarding the analysis, design and pilot evaluation of PY-RATE ADVENTURES. Method. The game was evaluated by 31 people that had recently graduated or were students of an Interdepartmental Programme of Postgraduate Studies in Information Systems. The participants voluntarily played the game and answered a questionnaire based on the MEEGA+ model , after their hands on experience with the game. This questionnaire’s purpose was to evaluate PY-RATE ADVENTURES in terms of perceived player experience and short-term learning . Results. The participants positively evaluated the game almost in all the elements of player experience. Furthermore, the majority of the users consider that the game helped them to learn basic programming concepts in Python and stated that they would prefer to learn programming with this game rather than other teaching methods. Conclusion. The positive results of the pilot evaluation give us the motivation to proceed and evaluate the game with students in secondary education, in order to extract stronger and generalisable conclusions regarding the impact of the game as an educational tool for learning programming concepts.

Suggested Citation

  • Grigorios Sideris & Stelios Xinogalos, 2019. "PY-RATE ADVENTURES: A 2D Platform Serious Game for Learning the Basic Concepts of Programming With Python," Simulation & Gaming, , vol. 50(6), pages 754-770, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:simgam:v:50:y:2019:i:6:p:754-770
    DOI: 10.1177/1046878119872797
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1046878119872797
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1046878119872797?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefanos Galgouranas & Stelios Xinogalos, 2018. "jAVANT-GARDE: A Cross-Platform Serious Game for an Introduction to Programming With Java," Simulation & Gaming, , vol. 49(6), pages 751-767, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Willy Christian Kriz, 2018. "Research of the Active Substance of Gaming Simulation," Simulation & Gaming, , vol. 49(6), pages 595-601, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:simgam:v:50:y:2019:i:6:p:754-770. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.