How can teachers use video games to support primary students to develop their understanding of programming concepts when studying computer science?

本研究将探讨如何将主要为娱乐而设计的商业视频游戏用于计算机科学（CS）教育中，向小学生介绍编程概念。计算机科学被认为对学生的教育至关重要，尽管人们担心学生在学习编程时面临的挑战。商业开发的视频游戏已经被证明可以增加参与度，改善对计算的态度，精心挑选的游戏有可能通过将游戏中的抽象概念与具体元素联系起来，支持学生发展他们对编程概念的理解，这些概念可以在他们自己的程序中实现。大多数计算机科学教育研究集中在年龄较大的学生身上，关于有效教学小学年龄儿童的方法的证据有限，本研究旨在解决这个问题。

This study will examine how commercial video gamesprimarily designed for entertainment can be used withincomputer science (CS) education to introduce primarystudents to programming concepts. CS is recognised asessential to students' education, although there is concernaround the challenges pupils face when learning toprogram. Commercially developed video games have beenshown to increase engagement and improve attitudestowards computing, with carefully selected games havingthe potential to support students in developing theirunderstanding of programming concepts throughconnecting abstract concepts with concrete elements withingames, which can be implemented within their ownprograms. The majority of CS education research focuseson older students, with limited evidence available foreffective approaches to teaching primary aged children,which this study aims to address.