Student attitudes towards using culturally-oriented educational games to improve programming proficiency: An exploratory study

Abstract

This exploratory study investigates student attitudes towards culturally-oriented educational games for practicing computer programming, where the mainstream culture appeals to all of the students irrespective of their cultural background. We show that a shared appreciation of culture along the lines of humour promotes positive student attitude towards culturally-aware game based learning which in turn is useful for developing proficiency in specific programming skills such as error detection and correction. Details of the exploratory study undertaken using culturally-oriented educational game prototypes are described, along with the results of the study. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.