Computer scientists develop first-person player video game that teaches how to program in Java
Contributed by: Email on 04/08/2013 02:17 PM [ Comments ]
The researchers tested the game on a group of 40 girls, ages 10 to 12, who had never been exposed to programming before. They detailed their findings in a paper they presented at the SIGCSE conference in March in Denver. Computer scientists found that within just one hour of play, the girls had mastered some of Javas basic components and were able to use the language to create new ways of playing with the game.
CodeSpells is the only video game that completely immerses programming into the game play, said William Griswold, a computer scientist at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.
The UC San Diego computer scientists plan to release the game for free and make it available to any educational institution that requests it. Researchers are currently conducting further case studies in San Diego elementary schools.
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