KCSB: A Game Construction Framework for Kids Coding in Taiwan

Authors

  • Chun-Hsiung Tseng Department of Communications, Yuan Ze University
  • Yung-Hui Chen
  • Shin-Chi Lai
  • Jia-Rou Lin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18063/bdci.v2i1.741

Keywords:

KidsCoding, Programming

Abstract

In this research, we proposed a game construction framework for designing games to teach young children programming in Taiwan. We focused on kids around 6-7 years old. For kids at such ages, solutions such as LEGO or Scratch may not be acceptable (considering that in Taiwan there is no official curriculum for teaching programming or computational thinking for kids at such ages). Although the blueprint setup a goal of information education for elementary schools, no real time slot is allocated in the current curriculum of elementary schools. The fact shows that teaching programming for young kids in Taiwan is difficult with existing tools/products. In this research, we proposed KCSB, a game construction framework which includes a set of runtime objects, a gd file parser, and a game creator. The framework is based on the Godot game engine. Designers can use the proposed framework with the Godot game engine to develop games that are suitable for teaching programming concepts for young children. At the current stage, the framework supports these progamming concepts: problem solving, algorithm evaluation, function (reusable component) definition, and loop. In the manuscript, an example demonstrating the use of the framework is also included.

Author Biography

Chun-Hsiung Tseng, Department of Communications, Yuan Ze University

Chun-Hsiung received his B.S. in computer science from National National ChengChi University, and received both M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from National Taiwan University. He was a research assistant of Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica in 2003-2010. He was a faculty member of Department of Computer Information and Network Engineering, Lunghwa University of Science and Technology in 2010-2013. His current position is a faculty member of Department of Communications Engineering, Yuan Ze University. His research interests include big data analysis, crowd intelligence, e-learning systems, and Web information extraction.

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Published

2018-09-04

Issue

Vol 2 , No 1 (In publishing)

Section

Original Research Articles

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