How to learn to program in a simple and funny way. Learn2program

Our objective of this online course was to create a game in which students learn to program in a simple and playful way. Gamification and thematic learning will be used as tools to improve motivation, student involvement and its commitment to the educational process.

Games are often the most useful tool for the student since they allow them to experiment with new objects and artifacts or even give them another type of use invented by themselves.Programming and computational thinking allow students to be creative. In addition to analyzing the problem and giving it a solution, the student must refine its operation until it is efficient and operational.

Debugging the programs will make the student more persevering and reflective. As Pablo Picasso said: “Inspiration exists but it has to find you working.”

Gamifying the learning process we try to achieve:

• Less learning curve. Introducing the students to the world of programming in a simpler way. Subsequently, more complex commands and structures can be used for troubleshooting.
• Facilitates systemic thinking. This is the thought based on the perception of the world for its understanding and analysis. It is produced in a system with several elements that are interrelated or subsystems, in which it is necessary to understand the operation and solve the problems of its properties.
• Simplifying problems for a better understanding: In programming there are a variety of elements that are interrelated, simplifying these elements allows you to understand in a simpler way how the system works, the parts and how to solve problems. It also favors faster scientific, logical and general thinking.

Sánchez, J. (2003). Integración Curricular de TICs Concepto y Modelos. Revista Enfoques Educacionales