Towards a Web Generator of Programming Games for Primary School Children

Abstract

This paper presents a web system to generate programming games for primary school children, with the objective to teach basic programming concepts. It also reviews five existing games with the same purpose, which use either block-based or text-based programming languages. A comparative analysis of the games is provided, based on some important features, such as the presence of a levels map, the use of a block or text language, the presence of a result screen, the presentation of the shortest and previous solutions, among others. The web system is divided into two main parts: the game generator that is used by teachers to create new programming games, and the programming games themselves that are played by students.