Object Oriented Programming for Fun

Our project aimed to help address the need to increase the number of ICT specialists in the EU and associated countries. We wanted to address this need by jointly developing a new way of teaching ...

Our project was aimed at secondary school teachers. They were our primary target group. Based on interviews with university teachers from the project consortium, there is a certain “gap” in understanding the basic principles of programming, especially in the case of object-oriented programming (OOP) among secondary school students admitted to informatics faculties of universities. It is very important that secondary school teachers understand what OOP is about. Unfortunately, we knew from our own experience that not all teachers understand the principles of programming correctly. This of course has an impact on students' education and their perception of programming. In our project, we wanted to prepare an overview of current methods, methodologies and concepts in programming for secondary school teachers, prepare syllabi and manuals (textbooks + online content). The main and unique mission of our international project team was to prepare curricula and project outcomes aimed at students and teachers learning and teaching OOP through game development with knowledge and skills related to the development process and collaboration in real and virtual environments.

Our project aimed to help address the need to increase the number of ICT specialists in the EU and associated countries. We wanted to address this need by jointly developing a new way of teaching programming in secondary schools, namely object-oriented programming. The role of programming in computer science is similar to that of practical work in other sciences – it provides motivation and a context in which ideas are put to life. In addition to motivation from various EU sources, we can mention other needs that we wanted to cover with our project: stopping the declining number of students interested in STEM study programmes in secondary schools (student motivation), presenting STEM and especially programming as not being difficult to study. The only people who can reach secondary school students about this fact are their own STEM and programming teachers. The EU aims to improve the digital skills of (1) citizens; (2) the workforce; (3) ICT professionals and (4) educational institutions. In our project, we focused on the fourth area mentioned - the education of secondary school teachers.

* Analysis of the current state and identification of gaps in programming teaching * Design of programming teaching with a new guiding idea * Development of new curricula for programming teaching * Materials for teachers - transfer of experience for current and future teachers * Design of new curricula for accreditation bodies at secondary level HE teachers from these countries prepared a gap analysis of programming teaching in their countries. Based on this, a new and innovative learning design for teaching programming was defined in cooperation with secondary school teachers. In parallel, HE teachers from UNIZA, UNIZG and UB created a new main idea (approach) of ​​teaching programming based on their national concepts. The selected learning design was also implemented in partner secondary schools. Based on the joint agreement of the partner organizations and associated partners, the development of a new generation of educational materials for secondary school teachers began. These materials include modern textbooks and supporting materials (worksheets, examples, methodology). All educational materials are published on an e-learning portal with free access.