Teaching Software Engineering Topics Through Pedagogical Game Design Patterns: An Empirical Study

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2020

Authors

Nuno Flores (Author) FEUP; Paiva, ACR (Author) FEUP; Cruz, N (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Information (Switzerland)

Vol. 11

Final page: 153

ISSN: 2078-2489

Publisher: MDPI

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 3 Citations

Scopus - 7 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00R-W5F

DOI: 10.3390/info11030153

Abstract (EN): Teaching software engineering in its many different forms using traditional teaching methods is difficult. Serious games can help overcome these challenges because they allow real situations to be simulated. However, the development of serious games is not easy and, although there are good practices for relating game design patterns to teaching techniques, there is no methodology to support its use in a specific context such as software engineering. This article presents a case study to validate a methodology that links the Learning and Teaching Functions (LTF) to the Game Design Patterns (PIB) in the context of Software Engineering Education. A serious game was developed from scratch using this methodology to teach software estimation (a specific topic of software engineering). An experiment was carried out to validate the effectiveness of the game by comparing the results of two different groups of students. The results indicate that the methodology can help to develop effective educational games on specific learning topics.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 21