Very much the same as described in the answer right above: Objective 1. To make a contribution to make computer science and programming education more enjoyable to the secondary school audience. Objective 2. To create the girl inclusive game design that research studies have highlighted during the last two decades. Some important design aspects here are game graphics, sound, a welcoming and pedagogical start level, a non-violent gameplay, instant feedback, custmasation opportunities and collaboration opportunities. Objective 3. To develop and test a video game that also involves a game-based learning analytics part that does not disturb the actual gaming and learning process. Where all three objectives are hard to achieve by one of the involved partners alone, but feasible in a well-planned project collaboration. Another objective has been to deliver a game, a teacher guide, research articles and a web portal that should remain after the end of the project. Most deliveries from the project can be downloaded via the Gaming4Coding web portal on: https://gaming4coding.eduproject.eu/ More deliveries will be uploaded later and the link to the web portal will be continuously spread to teachers, learners and other interested citizens.
We applied for this project after discussions upon programming education as problematic learning. More than many other school subjects programming education needs new didactic methods. In a time when many European countries have the ambition of introducing programming to a younger audience game-based learning seems like a good way to create interest and motivation among the younger audience. At the same time our experience is that educational games often have a design that do not appeal to girls. What makes this an interesting project is the strive for a girl inclusive design in a game that also implements game-based learning analytics. The game-based learning analytics is the most complex technical component, but also the component that makes the game special and interesting to use in educational contexts. The game-based learning analytics builds on the idea of 'stealth assessment' and that the learning analytics is an integrated part om the game. Learners should be able to play and learn without any interruptions with a stealth analysis running as a background process in the game as described in: Shute, V. J. (2011). Stealth assessment in computer-based games to support learning. Computer games and instruction, 55(2), 503-524.