sCool video game

sCool is a motivating video game for teaching computational skills in a playful way. The game-based tool is available for Windows and Android devices. It consists of a concept-learning and a practical part. In the concept-learning part players explore a hostile planet, defeat enemies and collect disks. In this way they learn basic concepts in computer science. The learned concepts are applied in the practical part. Players control a robot in order to fulfil different tasks. Therefore, it is necessary to use the Python programming language. In both game modes the maps are randomly generated which keeps the game engaging, since there is always something new to explore.

robot
robot

Web Application

The web application helps educators to pre-define learning objectives. It can be used to create individual courses for classes and keep track of the students' progress. The communication between the video game and the web application takes place via an interface in real-time. In this way teachers can update content immediately and analyse the students game data. Different evaluations help to support the students in an individual way.

Web Application

Research

Since sCool was developed as a research project various contributions to education and game research could be made.

Here you can find a list of research related to sCool:

Journals

  • Mosquera, C., Steinmaurer, A., Eckhardt, C., & Gütl, C. (2020). Immersively Learning Object Oriented Programming Concepts With sCool. In 6th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN 2020) (pp. 124-131).
  • Steinmaurer, A., Pirker, J., & Gütl, C. (2019). sCool - Game-Based Learning in Computer Science Class: A Case Study in Secondary Education. International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy, 9(2), 35-50.
  • Steinmaurer, A., Pirker, J., & Gütl, C. (2018, September). sCool - Game Based Learning in STEM Education: A Case Study in Secondary Education. In International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (pp. 614-625). Springer, Cham.
  • Kojic, A., Kojic, M., Pirker, J., Gütl, C., Mentzelopoulos, M., & Economou, D. (2018). sCool-A Mobile Flexible Learning Environment. iLRN 2018 Montana, 72.

Talks/Presentations

  • 31 March 2020: Tag der Informatik Fachdidaktik (PH Steiermark) - Workshop (Virtual Workshop; Video and Slides)
  • 20 March 2019: Tag der Informatik Fachdidaktik (PH Steiermark) - Workshop (Summary)
  • 19 March 2019: TEL Marketplace (TU Graz) - Poster Session

Team

sCool was developed in 2017 in a research cooperation between Graz University of Technology (Austria) and Westminister University (United Kingdom). In the last years a couple of motivated students and researchers worked on different aspects of the game to provide an enjoyable and motivating start into coding.

Our sincere thanks go to ...

  • Milos and Aleksandar Kojic: The founding fathers of the game
  • Oliver Pöckelhofer: Creator of the game type platformer
  • Chanelle Mosquera: Graphical artist and programmer of the game type builder
  • Martin Sackl: Revision of game modes and web application
  • Alexander Steinmaurer: Inventor of the pedagogical and didactical concept
  • Julia Lampel: Adding multi-language support (German and Russian)
  • Christian Gütl: Leading researcher on the project
  • Johanna Pirker: Supporting the game development in all stages with great ideas
  • Daphne Economou: Supporting in research and development
  • Markos Mentzelopoulos: Supporting in research and development

Partners

Another thank you to our partner schools and institutions for their contribution in the project.

Web Application
Web Application