Designing Serious Digital Games Used to Exercise Computational Thinking Skills in Children on the Autism Spectrum
Resumo
Introduction: Computational Thinking (CT) is a problem-solving approach that involves developing a set of cognitive skills. The literature indicates that there is a scarcity of research focused on the development of CT in minority groups, such as children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Objective: In this sense, this work investigated how to design and evaluate serious digital games that enhance the exercise of cognitive skills in this population, utilizing the pillars of CT – pattern recognition, decomposition, algorithms, and abstraction. Methodology: A new game mechanic was created in a serious game authoring platform RUFUS. Two evaluations were conducted and provided valuable insights into interface usability and target users’ engagement. Results: The results indicate that games created using the CT mechanics present favorable conditions to support the exercise of CT skills, especially in educational environments aimed at serving children with ASD.
Palavras-chave:
Computational Thinking, Serious Digital Games, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Game Design, Game Evaluation, RUFUS Authoring Platform
Referências
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Brackmann, C. P. (2017). Desenvolvimento do Pensamento Computacional Através de Atividades Desplugadas na Educação Básica. PhD thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.
Bradley, M. M. and Lang, P. J. (1994). Measuring emotion: the self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 25(1):49–59.
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da Hora Rodrigues, K. R., Elias Cardoso Verhalen, A., Willian da Silva, J., Marino Silva, T., Geurgas Zavarizz, R., de Almeida Neris, V. P., and Maia de Souza, P. (2023). Design and evaluation of an authoring platform for therapeutic digital games. Interacting with Computers, 35(2):118–141.
Dutra, T., Ferreira, A., Gasparini, I., and Maschio, E. (2022). Jogo digital educacional para desenvolvimento do pensamento computacional para crianças com deficiência intelectual. In Anais do II Simpósio Brasileiro de Educação em Computação, pages 251–260, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC.
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Elshahawy, M., Bakhaty, M., and Sharaf, N. (2020). Developing computational thinking for children with autism using a serious game. In 2020 24th International Conference Information Visualisation (IV), pages 761–766.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Comput. Entertain., 1(1):20.
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Malpartida, K. F. C. and Rodrigues, K. R. d. H. (2025). Building serious games to exercise computational thinking: Initial evaluation with teachers of children on the autism spectrum. Journal on Interactive Systems, 16:148–162.
Munoz, R., Schumacher Barcelos, T., and Villarroel, R. (2018). Ct4all: Enhancing computational thinking skills in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. IEEE Latin America Transactions, 16(3):909–917.
Oliveira, A. T. d., Saddy, B. S., Mograbi, D. C., and Coelho, C. L. A. M. (2015). Jogos eletronicos na perspectiva da avaliacao interativa, ferramenta de aprendizagem com alunos com deficiência intelectuall. Neuropsicologia Latinoamericana, 7:28 – 35.
Papastergiou, M. (2009). Digital game-based learning in high school computer science education: Impact on educational effectiveness and student motivation. Computers & Education, 52(1):1–12.
Paternò, F. and Wulf, V. (2017). New perspectives in end-user development. Springer.
Prensky, M. (2012). Aprendizagem baseada em jogos digitais. SENAC São Paulo, São Paulo, 1ª edição edition.
Prieto, L. M., Trevisan, M. d. C. B., Danezi, M. I., and Falkembach, G. M. (2005). Uso das tecnologias digitais em atividades didÁticas nas sÉries iniciais. Revista Novas Tecnologias na Educação, 3(1).
Raabe, A., Brackmann, C., and Campos, F. (2018). Currículo de Referência em Tecnologia e Computação: Da Educação Infantil ao Ensino Fundamental. CIEB, São Paulo.
SBC (2017). Referenciais de formação em computação: Educação básica.
Schmidt, M. and Beck, D. (2016). Computational thinking and social skills in virtuoso: An immersive, digital game-based learning environment for youth with autism spectrum disorder. In Allison, C., Morgado, L., Pirker, J., Beck, D., Richter, J., and Gütl, C., editors, Immersive Learning Research Network, pages 113–121, Cham. Springer International Publishing.
Schuler, D. and Namioka, A. (1993). Participatory design: Principles and practices. CRC Press.
Tekdal, M. (2021). Trends and development in research on computational thinking. Education and Information Technologies, 26(5):6499–6529. Cited By :10.
Verhalen, A. E. C., Silva, T. M., and Rodrigues, K. R. D. H. (2024). Once upon a time... you! a game to support health professionals in the treatment of children with chronic diseases, helping them to express their feelings. In Proceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’23, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Verhalen, A. E. C., Zavarizz, R. G., Silva, J. W. d., Silva, T. M., Nunes, C. E. P., de Gois Ribeiro Darin, T., and Rodrigues, K. R. d. H. (2022). Telling your own story: Design and evaluation of a storytelling mechanic in a platform for serious games authoring. In Proceedings of the 21st Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’22, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Commun. ACM, 49(3):33–35.
Brackmann, C. P. (2017). Desenvolvimento do Pensamento Computacional Através de Atividades Desplugadas na Educação Básica. PhD thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.
Bradley, M. M. and Lang, P. J. (1994). Measuring emotion: the self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 25(1):49–59.
Brooke, J. (1996). Sus: A quick and dirty usability scale. In Usability evaluation in industry, pages 189–194. Taylor & Francis.
da Hora Rodrigues, K. R., Elias Cardoso Verhalen, A., Willian da Silva, J., Marino Silva, T., Geurgas Zavarizz, R., de Almeida Neris, V. P., and Maia de Souza, P. (2023). Design and evaluation of an authoring platform for therapeutic digital games. Interacting with Computers, 35(2):118–141.
Dutra, T., Ferreira, A., Gasparini, I., and Maschio, E. (2022). Jogo digital educacional para desenvolvimento do pensamento computacional para crianças com deficiência intelectual. In Anais do II Simpósio Brasileiro de Educação em Computação, pages 251–260, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC.
Dutra, T. C., Felipe, D., Gasparini, I., and Maschio, E. (2021). A systematic mapping of guidelines for the development of accessible digital games to people with disabilities. In Antona, M. and Stephanidis, C., editors, Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Design Methods and User Experience, pages 53–70, Cham. Springer International Publishing.
Elshahawy, M., Bakhaty, M., and Sharaf, N. (2020). Developing computational thinking for children with autism using a serious game. In 2020 24th International Conference Information Visualisation (IV), pages 761–766.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Comput. Entertain., 1(1):20.
Godwin-Jones, R. (2014). Games in language learning: Opportunities and challenges - language learning and technology.
ISTE/CSTA (2011). Computational thinking teacher resource. [link].
Malpartida, K. F. C. and Rodrigues, K. R. d. H. (2025). Building serious games to exercise computational thinking: Initial evaluation with teachers of children on the autism spectrum. Journal on Interactive Systems, 16:148–162.
Munoz, R., Schumacher Barcelos, T., and Villarroel, R. (2018). Ct4all: Enhancing computational thinking skills in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. IEEE Latin America Transactions, 16(3):909–917.
Oliveira, A. T. d., Saddy, B. S., Mograbi, D. C., and Coelho, C. L. A. M. (2015). Jogos eletronicos na perspectiva da avaliacao interativa, ferramenta de aprendizagem com alunos com deficiência intelectuall. Neuropsicologia Latinoamericana, 7:28 – 35.
Papastergiou, M. (2009). Digital game-based learning in high school computer science education: Impact on educational effectiveness and student motivation. Computers & Education, 52(1):1–12.
Paternò, F. and Wulf, V. (2017). New perspectives in end-user development. Springer.
Prensky, M. (2012). Aprendizagem baseada em jogos digitais. SENAC São Paulo, São Paulo, 1ª edição edition.
Prieto, L. M., Trevisan, M. d. C. B., Danezi, M. I., and Falkembach, G. M. (2005). Uso das tecnologias digitais em atividades didÁticas nas sÉries iniciais. Revista Novas Tecnologias na Educação, 3(1).
Raabe, A., Brackmann, C., and Campos, F. (2018). Currículo de Referência em Tecnologia e Computação: Da Educação Infantil ao Ensino Fundamental. CIEB, São Paulo.
SBC (2017). Referenciais de formação em computação: Educação básica.
Schmidt, M. and Beck, D. (2016). Computational thinking and social skills in virtuoso: An immersive, digital game-based learning environment for youth with autism spectrum disorder. In Allison, C., Morgado, L., Pirker, J., Beck, D., Richter, J., and Gütl, C., editors, Immersive Learning Research Network, pages 113–121, Cham. Springer International Publishing.
Schuler, D. and Namioka, A. (1993). Participatory design: Principles and practices. CRC Press.
Tekdal, M. (2021). Trends and development in research on computational thinking. Education and Information Technologies, 26(5):6499–6529. Cited By :10.
Verhalen, A. E. C., Silva, T. M., and Rodrigues, K. R. D. H. (2024). Once upon a time... you! a game to support health professionals in the treatment of children with chronic diseases, helping them to express their feelings. In Proceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’23, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Verhalen, A. E. C., Zavarizz, R. G., Silva, J. W. d., Silva, T. M., Nunes, C. E. P., de Gois Ribeiro Darin, T., and Rodrigues, K. R. d. H. (2022). Telling your own story: Design and evaluation of a storytelling mechanic in a platform for serious games authoring. In Proceedings of the 21st Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, IHC ’22, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery.
Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Commun. ACM, 49(3):33–35.
Publicado
29/09/2026
Como Citar
MALPARTIDA, Katherin F. C.; SANTOS, Suzane S. dos; RODRIGUES, Kamila R. H..
Designing Serious Digital Games Used to Exercise Computational Thinking Skills in Children on the Autism Spectrum. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE JOGOS E ENTRETENIMENTO DIGITAL (SBGAMES), 25. , 2026, Goiânia/GO.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2026
.
p. 2138-2149.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbgames.2026.25957.
