According to Ala-Mutka (n.d.) the learning of the basic concepts is often emphasized; these form the basis for building more advanced skills. The basic programming concepts would be the concepts serving as a starting point or basis for learning programming. An attempt to aid learning and teaching was the development of visualization materials about programming concepts (Lahtinen, n.d.). Ala-Mutka (n.d.) further stated that “According to the surveys, all respondents were confident that visualizations help students' understanding and learning of concepts.” However, statements against visualization were the amount of time that is required to create visualizations, problems teachers faced in providing the visualizations for the students in a usable way and the problems students faced in using them effectively in learning (Ala-Mutka, n.d.; Lahtinen, n.d.).

Analogy is the comparison showing similarity between like features of two things. There are in-depth studies that indicate that using analogies assists in concept development. According to Thagard (1992) analogies are well known for helping students understand complex science concepts but they are also well known for causing misconceptions in cases where students over generalize and map not corresponding features of source and target concepts. A problem identified by Gomes and Mendes (2007) is that the teaching of dynamic concepts is usually made through static materials. According to Doukakis, Tsaganou, and Grigoriadou (2007) analogies that are appropriate for teaching programming concepts and structures are function or structural- functional analogies. Structural analogs focus on the structure of a concept and functional analogs focuses on the functions. The experiment conducted by Doukakis et al revealed that engaging novice programmers in exploratory activities with the use of a properly selected interactive animated analogy can help them deal with some of their misconceptions in the concept of programming variable. Their experiment also indicated that when students were familiar with the analog chosen they were interested in experimenting with it. Furthermore, they stated that another problem concerns students’ familiarity with the analog proposed by the teacher, the textbook writer or the educational software designer. They stated that “Unfortunately, there is not always available an analog familiar to all students, that is also appropriate for the instruction of a specific concept.” However, they noted that computer based simulations and animation give new and perhaps more efficient way to incorporate analogies in instruction.

In Guyana and the Caribbean students are still required to attend lecture sessions. According to Grimley, Green, Nilsen and Thompson (2012) lecture based instruction has been the major form of instruction in tertiary institutions for many years and will probably endure for many years to come. Grimley et al further stated that “The main benefit of lecture based instruction is that it is efficient and economic, especially in these times of economic hardship.” At the University of Guyana, for the course titled “Introduction to Programming Using C”, students are required to attend three hours lecture sessions and two hour labs. Bernard and Cummings (2003) described an integrated instructional model for integrating web based instructions and classroom teaching in educational institutions in the Caribbean. At the tertiary level students were required to study the current topic using the web based course, prior to coming to class. It was observed that due to this approach the lectures were very interactive; they became discussion of course materials where students were able to make real contributions to the discussion. Bernard and Cummings (2003) stated that “The studies show that the integrated approach facilitated more effective learning.” Therefore, a major aim of this experiment is to find out if the delivery of introductory programming lessons complemented with games as analogs would be more effective than the traditional lecture method.

We propose that the delivery of introductory programming lessons complemented with games as analogs will be more effective than the lecture method.

The three games that were implemented are Super Sticky, Cake Finder and Looping Star. These games did not specifically focus on any programming language syntax. The aim was more on helping the player remember certain basic steps or rules and tracing the values of variables as they change. When designing the games the PETTT Technical Report titled “Computer Science Education Research on Programming: What We Know and How We Know It” was used as guidance. This report was a review on literature that identified certain misconceptions students make as they program.

This game seeks to introduce the player to variables.

This game teaches about the selection structure: if... else. Based on the description of the cake given by the chef and the cupboard’s labels the player has to determine which cupboard the cake is in. It should be noted that this game is fairly simple to play. This may be because the question was kept simple.

Besides teaching about the while loop this casual game gives the player practice on four ways variables could be assigned.