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Motivating OOP by blowing things up: an exercise in cooperation and competition in an introductory java programming course

Published: 03 March 2006 Publication History

Abstract

For the introductory student, the process of learning to program is an arduous task. Not only does the student have to learn the syntax of a programming language, he or she also has to apply concepts of object-oriented design and software construction in service of the projects created within the classroom. Unfortunately, as students further their study of programming, they often feel disconnected from the examples and projects they construct as part of their coursework. Projects are often perceived as toy problems and do not match the graphics-rich, interactive notion of programming that students bring with them to class. In addition, projects and classroom exercises do not convey the appropriate level of complexity and fail in the task of challenging the student to critically think about what they are constructing. This paper discusses TankBrains, a cooperative and competitive programming project presented to students in the latter part of their introductory programming course sequence. Students are challenged to create simple tank artificial intelligences as teams, which are later tested against each other in head-to-head combat. Students create their TankBrains within a collaborative virtual environment, which enforces the physics and rules of the combat simulation. Students must also present their strategies and findings to each other. This paper also examines how the use of the TankBrain system influences the students' perception regarding achievements and learning in the classroom.

References

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ACM/IEEE Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula. Computing Curricula 2001: Computer Science, December, 2001.
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Alphonce, C. and Ventura, P. Object Orientation in CS1-CS2 by Design, In Proc. of the 7th Annual ITiCSE Conference, Aarhus, Denmark, 2002,70--74.
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Alphonce C. and Ventura, P. Using Graphics to Support Teaching of Fundamental Object Oriented Principles, In OOPSLA 2003 Educator's Consortium Companion, 2003, 156--161.
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Bierre, K. and Phelps, A. The Use of M.U.P.P.E.T.S. in an Introductory Java Programming Course, In Proc. of the 5th Annual SIGITE Conference, 2004, 122--127.
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de Raadt, M., Watson, R., and Toleman, M. Introductory Programming: What's Happening Today and Will There Be Any Students to Teach Tomorrow?, Proc. of the 6th ACE Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand, 2004, 277--282.
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Nelson, M. Robocode: Online: http://robocode.sourceforge.net/
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  • (2018)Game Development with a Serious FocusProceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/3159450.3159588(652-657)Online publication date: 21-Feb-2018
  • (2017)Collaborative and Competitive Video Games for Teaching Computing in Higher EducationJournal of Science Education and Technology10.1007/s10956-017-9690-426:4(438-457)Online publication date: 15-Mar-2017
  • (2016)De las competencias de programación a una pedagogía educativa en La Paz BoliviaInnoeduca. International Journal of Technology and Educational Innovation10.20548/innoeduca.2016.v2i2.20342:2(128-137)Online publication date: 27-Nov-2016
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      Published In

      cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
      ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 38, Issue 1
      March 2006
      553 pages
      ISSN:0097-8418
      DOI:10.1145/1124706
      Issue’s Table of Contents
      • cover image ACM Conferences
        SIGCSE '06: Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
        March 2006
        612 pages
        ISBN:1595932593
        DOI:10.1145/1121341
      Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 03 March 2006
      Published in SIGCSE Volume 38, Issue 1

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      Author Tags

      1. graphics
      2. programming education
      3. virtual worlds

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      Cited By

      View all
      • (2018)Game Development with a Serious FocusProceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/3159450.3159588(652-657)Online publication date: 21-Feb-2018
      • (2017)Collaborative and Competitive Video Games for Teaching Computing in Higher EducationJournal of Science Education and Technology10.1007/s10956-017-9690-426:4(438-457)Online publication date: 15-Mar-2017
      • (2016)De las competencias de programación a una pedagogía educativa en La Paz BoliviaInnoeduca. International Journal of Technology and Educational Innovation10.20548/innoeduca.2016.v2i2.20342:2(128-137)Online publication date: 27-Nov-2016
      • (2011)Learning programming languages through corrective feedback and concept visualisationProceedings of the 10th international conference on Advances in Web-Based Learning10.1007/978-3-642-25813-8_2(11-20)Online publication date: 8-Dec-2011
      • (2010)Lessons from a course on serious games research and prototypingProceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games10.1145/1822348.1822353(32-39)Online publication date: 19-Jun-2010
      • (2009)Constructivist Apprenticeship through Antagonistic Programming ActivitiesEncyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Second Edition10.4018/978-1-60566-026-4.ch115(708-714)Online publication date: 2009
      • (2009)Has the paradigm shift in CS1 a harmful effect on data structures coursesACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/1539024.150890941:1(126-130)Online publication date: 4-Mar-2009
      • (2009)Has the paradigm shift in CS1 a harmful effect on data structures coursesProceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/1508865.1508909(126-130)Online publication date: 4-Mar-2009
      • (2008)Game-themed programming assignmentsACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/1352322.135224140:1(300-304)Online publication date: 12-Mar-2008
      • (2008)Game-themed programming assignmentsProceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/1352135.1352241(300-304)Online publication date: 12-Mar-2008
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