Teaching Loop Testing to Young Learners with the Code Critters Mutation Testing Game
Serious games can teach essential coding and testing concepts even to younger audiences. In the Code Critters game critters execute short snippets of block-based code while traversing the game map, and players position magical portals (akin to test oracles) at locations (akin to test inputs) to distinguish between critters executing correct code from those who execute faulty code. However, this adaptation of the tower defense genre limits code under test to basic sequences and branches, and excludes the fundamental programming concept of loops. To address this limitation, in this paper we introduce an entirely new game concept integrated into the Code Critters storyline, tasking players to collect ingredients for a healing potion using loop-based recipes at a second-stage level. In a study involving 29 secondary school students, we observed active engagement with these new loop-integrated levels. The results highlighted challenges the students face, which can inform future strategies for improving coding and testing education.
Tue 29 AprDisplayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change
16:00 - 17:30 | Gamification and Engagement in LearningCSEE&T at 106 Chair(s): Sandro Speth Institute of Software Engineering, University of Stuttgart Due to a last minute change, the presentation of the paper “Robotics Software Engineering Education: An Experience Report” is being moved to the “Experiential Learning” session in room 206 on Monday at about noon as a 4th paper. | ||
16:00 20mTalk | OSSDoorway: A Gamified Environment to Scaffold Student Contributions to Open Source Software CSEE&T Italo Santos Northern Arizona University, Katia Felizardo Federal Technological University of Paraná, Anita Sarma Oregon State University, Igor Steinmacher NAU RESHAPE LAB, Marco Gerosa Northern Arizona University Pre-print | ||
16:20 20mTalk | Robotics Software Engineering Education: An Experience Report CSEE&T Meenakshi Manjunath Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Jeshwitha Jesus Raja Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Rainer Herrler Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Marian Daun Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt | ||
16:40 20mTalk | Teaching Loop Testing to Young Learners with the Code Critters Mutation Testing Game CSEE&T Philipp Straubinger University of Passau, Lena Bloch University of Passau, Gordon Fraser University of Passau Pre-print | ||
17:00 20mTalk | Bug-Hunting Games to Add Excitement in Software Testing and Programming Classes CSEE&T Natalia Silvis-Cividjian Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Jasper Veltman Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Auke Buchel Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Erik Link Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Joshua Kenyon Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Michel Oey Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences Pre-print |