Towards a 3D Virtual Game for Learning Object-Oriented Programming Fundamentals and C++ Language - Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Results

Fahima Djelil, Benjamin Albouy-Kissi, Adélaïde Albouy-Kissi, Eric Sanchez, Jean-Marc Lavest

2015

Abstract

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) paradigm is one of the most common paradigm in introductory programming courses. However, novices often have difficulties to understand the basic concepts which are of a high level of abstraction. Either tangible and virtual constructive games provide the students with a more familiar way for learning programming. This paper applies a construction game metaphor approach for learning OOP concepts and C++ syntax. After introducing some tangible and virtual constructive games for learning programming, we present an experimental prototype of a new 3D virtual game for learning OOP called PrOgO as well as the results of an experiment conducted with beginner student using PrOgO.

References

  1. Börstler, J., Nordström, M., Westin, L. K., Moström, J.-E., and Eliasson, J. (2008). Transitioning to OOP/java - a never ending story. In Reflections on the Teaching of Programming, pages 80-97. Springer.
  2. Conway, M., Audia, S., Burnette, T., Cosgrove, D., and Christiansen, K. (2000). Alice: lessons learned from building a 3D system for novices. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, pages 486-493. ACM.
  3. Cooper, S., Dann, W., and Pausch, R. (2000). Alice: a 3D tool for introductory programming concepts. In Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, volume 15, pages 107-116. Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges.
  4. Cooper, S., Dann, W., and Pausch, R. (2003). Teaching objects-first in introductory computer science. In ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, volume 35, pages 191-195. ACM.
  5. Jetsu, I. (2008). Tangible user interfaces and programming. Master's thesis, University of Joensuu- department of computer science and statistics. page 70.
  6. Kölling, M. (2010). The greenfoot programming environment. ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), 10(4):14.
  7. Overmars, M. (2004). Learning object-oriented design by creating games. Potentials, IEEE, 23(5):11-13.
  8. Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. Basic Books, Inc.
  9. Perlman, R. (1976). Using computer technology to provide a creative learning environment for preschool children.
  10. Raffle, H. S. (2004). Topobo: a 3-D constructive assembly system with kinetic memory. PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  11. Suzuki, H. and Kato, H. (1993). Algoblock: a tangible programming language, a tool for collaborative learning. In Proceedings of 4th European Logo Conference, pages 297-303.
  12. Utting, I., Cooper, S., Kölling, M., Maloney, J., and Resnick, M. (2010). Alice, greenfoot, and scratch - a discussion. ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), 10(4):1-17.
  13. Yan, L. (2009). Teaching object-oriented programming with games. In Sixth International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (ITNG'09), pages 969-974.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Djelil F., Albouy-Kissi B., Albouy-Kissi A., Sanchez E. and Lavest J. (2015). Towards a 3D Virtual Game for Learning Object-Oriented Programming Fundamentals and C++ Language - Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Results . In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU, ISBN 978-989-758-108-3, pages 289-294. DOI: 10.5220/0005475802890294


in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu15,
author={Fahima Djelil and Benjamin Albouy-Kissi and Adélaïde Albouy-Kissi and Eric Sanchez and Jean-Marc Lavest},
title={Towards a 3D Virtual Game for Learning Object-Oriented Programming Fundamentals and C++ Language - Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Results},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,},
year={2015},
pages={289-294},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0005475802890294},
isbn={978-989-758-108-3},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,
TI - Towards a 3D Virtual Game for Learning Object-Oriented Programming Fundamentals and C++ Language - Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Results
SN - 978-989-758-108-3
AU - Djelil F.
AU - Albouy-Kissi B.
AU - Albouy-Kissi A.
AU - Sanchez E.
AU - Lavest J.
PY - 2015
SP - 289
EP - 294
DO - 10.5220/0005475802890294