Evaluation of a serious game with mini-games based on the Bebras Challenge to support Computational Thinking education
Abstract
This work presents the development and application of a game, featuring mini-games inspired by the Bebras challenges, to support Computational Thinking (CT) teaching. An experiment was conducted with students from the graduate program in Technologies, Communication, and Education at the Federal University of Uberlândia to evaluate the game. The activity included a theoretical introduction to Computational Thinking, the resolution of Bebras challenges in printed format, and interaction with the game and its minigames. Usability was assessed using the SUS (System Usability Scale). Results show the games’ potential to engage participants and highlight areas for improvement in both CT and game navigation.References
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Reuter, J., Ferreira Dias, M., Amorim, M., Figueiredo, C., Veloso, C., and Figueiredo, C. (2020). How to create educational escape rooms? strategies for creation and design. In Eighth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality, pages 694–698.
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Wing, J. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49:33–35.
Zaharija, G., Mladenović, S., and Boljat, I. (2013). Introducing basic programming concepts to elementary school children. Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 106:1576–1584.
Bangor, A., Kortum, P., and Miller, J. (2009). Determining what individual sus scores mean: Adding an adjective rating scale. Journal of Usability Studies, 4(3):114–123.
BRASIL, M. (2017). Base nacional comum curricular. Brasília-DF: MEC, Secretaria de Educação Básica.
BRASIL, M. (2022). Normas sobre computação na educação básica - complemento à bncc. Brasília-DF: MEC, Secretaria de Educação Básica.
Brooke, J. (1986). Sus - a quick and dirty usability scale. Acessado em: Mar. 2025.
Dagienė, V., Sentance, S., and Stupurienė, G. (2017). Developing a two-dimensional categorization system for educational tasks in informatics. Informatica, 28(1):23–44.
Espino, E. E. and González, C. (2016). Gender and computational thinking: Review of the literature and applications. In Proceedings of the XVII International Conference on Human Computer Interaction, pages 1–2.
Lima, M. A., Cardoso, A., Lopes, R., Domingues, R., Gaspar, G. L., Toffoli, G., Otoni, G. H., and Barbosa, L. A. (2024). Jogo sério de realidade virtual baseado em escape room com minijogos para promoção do pensamento computacional. In Anais Estendidos do XXIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Jogos e Entretenimento Digital, pages 159–165, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. SBC.
Malliarakis, C., Satratzemi, M., and Xinogalos, S. (2016). Cmx: The effects of an educational mmorpg on learning and teaching computer programming. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 10(2):219–235.
Orji, R., Oyibo, K., and Tondello, G. F. (2017). A comparison of system-controlled and user-controlled personalization approaches. In Adjunct publication of the 25th conference on user modeling, adaptation and personalization, pages 413–418.
Reuter, J., Ferreira Dias, M., Amorim, M., Figueiredo, C., Veloso, C., and Figueiredo, C. (2020). How to create educational escape rooms? strategies for creation and design. In Eighth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality, pages 694–698.
Streicher, A. and Smeddinck, J. D. (2016). Personalized and adaptive serious games. In Entertainment Computing and Serious Games: International GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 15283, Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, July 5-10, 2015, Revised Selected Papers, pages 332–377. Springer.
Tullis, T. S. and Stetson, J. N. (2004). A comparison of questionnaires for assessing website usability. Acessado em: Mar. 2025.
Wing, J. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49:33–35.
Zaharija, G., Mladenović, S., and Boljat, I. (2013). Introducing basic programming concepts to elementary school children. Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 106:1576–1584.
Published
2025-07-20
How to Cite
CARDOSO, Alexandre et al.
Evaluation of a serious game with mini-games based on the Bebras Challenge to support Computational Thinking education. In: WORKSHOP ON COMPUTING EDUCATION (WEI), 33. , 2025, Maceió/AL.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2025
.
p. 837-848.
ISSN 2595-6175.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/wei.2025.8581.
