|Institution:||University of New Mexico|
|Keywords:||AOLME; visual programming environments; Python; game programming|
|Full text PDF:||http://hdl.handle.net/1928/23606|
In recent years, research has started to show a distressing trend in the world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM) fields. It has become apparent that students from under-represented groups get little to no experience or practice in the field of engineering. This apparent lack of exposure to engineering knowledge and practice is likely to be the cause as to why students from under-represented groups may not become interested in engineering careers. The Advancing Out-of-School Learning in Mathematics and Engineering (AOLME) project was created specifically for providing integrated mathematics and engineering experiences to middle-school students from under-represented groups. The thesis presents a new approach to introducing game programming to middle-school students that have undergone AOLME-training while still maintaining a fun and relaxed environment. The thesis provides a discussion of three different educational, visual-programming environments that are also designed for younger programmers and provides motivation for the proposed approach based on Python.The thesis details interactive activities that are intended for supporting the students to develop their own games in Python.