Comparative analysis of 2D games and artwork as the motivation to learn programming

Abstract

In order to motivate students to learn programming, many instructors have tried to use games, robots, narative media, artwork, and so on hoping that they would impress their students. However, there has not been any comparative study of these outcomes. In this research, two outcomes of programming, games and artwork have been studied together, and the motivation factors of them have been comparatively analyzed. Processing programming environment was used as the common programming environment for the two outcomes, and the motivation of the students was analyzed using our original questionnaire based on the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) motivation model. The questionnaire was conducted three times: early, middle, and late in the course. The average scores for all the four factors in the ARCS model were higher for the game course than the one for the artwork course for all the three trials of the questionnaire. The average scores for the four factors for the game course decreased as the learning phase progressed.