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Title: Building Simple Games With BRIDGES
Many newcomers to programming and computational thinking have been brought up on interactive, gamified learning environments. Introductory computer science courses at the university level need to dig deeper into these topics, but must do so with similarly engaging technologies and projects. To address this need, we have built a framework for a grid-based game API with event-based blocking and continuous non-blocking interfaces. The framework abstracts away much of the complexity of inputs and rendering and exposes a simple game grid similar to a 2D array indexed by rows and columns. As such, our project helps reinforce basic computing concepts (arrays, loops, OOP, recursion) with a customizable and engaging game interface. We have discussed the valuable influence of visual representations of student's data structures using BRIDGES in previous publications, and believe our game API can provide significance and intrigue for students in introductory courses and beyond. Our Bridges Games App website (http://bridges-games.herokuapp.com/) presents descriptions and instructions.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1245841
PAR ID:
10091592
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1288 to 1288
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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