Having Fun with Computer Programming and Games: Teacher and Student Experiences

• Published in: Teaching Fundamental Concepts of Informatics Vol. 5941; pp. 136 - 142
• Main Author: McInerney, Clare
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Springer Berlin / Heidelberg 2010; Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Subjects: computational concepts; computational thinking; engagement; second-level curriculum; Second-level outreach
• ISBN: 9783642113758; 3642113753
• ISSN: 0302-9743; 1611-3349
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-11376-5_13

There has been a decline in the number of students studying mathematics, science and computing at third-level in Ireland. This may be because Ireland does not have a computing curriculum. However, in the UK higher education computing students fell in spite of the existence of such curriculum. According to teachers, student engagement and having a fun and exciting experience are essential ingredients when teaching computing to second-level students through a computing curriculum or other interventions. The Lero Education and Outreach program has developed a set of materials “Having fun with Computer Programming and Games” for second-level students aged 15-16. The goal is to engage students in computing and to offer them an enjoyable and positive experience. Working with two second-level ICT teachers, we designed a set of materials during summer 2008 that have been deployed in a number of schools.