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Engaging Students in Java Programming with Greenfoot and the Moon Project

This paper presents an innovative approach to teaching Java programming using Greenfoot, a user-friendly programming environment. The "Going to the Moon" project serves as a capstone experience, providing students with 10 engaging labs that cover fundamental programming concepts. By incorporating graphics, sounds, and interactive elements, the project keeps student interest high and ensures they see immediate results from their coding efforts. The paper outlines challenges faced in programming education and provides solutions that enhance the learning experience and retention.

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Engaging Students in Java Programming with Greenfoot and the Moon Project

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  1. Using Greenfoot and a Moon Scenario to Teach Java Programming in CS1 Randy J. Gallant & Dr. Qusay Mahmoud ACMSE 2008

  2. Outline • Problems • Solutions • Greenfoot • Going to the Moon Project • Demo • Testing, Acceptance & Development • Project Information • Questions

  3. Problems with Learning Programming • Learning programming is boring at first. • Hard to keep students attention. • Hours of endless coding before any displayable results.

  4. Solutions • Make the programming environment more user friendly and entertaining. • Cater to the students enjoyment of electronic games to keep their attention. • Use graphics to show immediate visual results of a working program.

  5. Introducing Greenfoot • Grid style world • Graphics • Movement • Sounds • Open source Java

  6. Greenfoot Editor

  7. Going to the Moon • 10 Labs • Used to learn the basic Java programming and Greenfoot skills. • Final Capstone Project • Used to test the acquired programming skills of the students.

  8. Topics of the10 Labs • Lab 1 Exploring Greenfoot • Lab 2 Working with Existing Scenarios • Lab 3 Basic Space Travel • Lab 4 Add and Remove Objects • Lab 5 Grid Positioning & Fuel • Lab 6 Trip to the Moon • Lab 7 The Return Trip back to Earth • Lab 8 Creating Object Actors / Graphics • Lab 9 Sounds and Advanced Graphics • Lab 10 Keyboard Input

  9. Project Demo • Demo Lab 6 • Lab 6 Instructions • Demo Final Capstone Project • Correct code • Incorrect code

  10. Testing, Acceptance & Development • In current discussions with faculty at Humber to try using this project in coming semesters. • This project will be used by Dr. Mahmoud to teach Java to senior year high school students in a special project at the University of Guelph in April – June 2008. • I will be using this project to teach an introductory to Java programming course in September 2008 at Humber College. • “Going to the Moon” was demonstrated at ACM SIGCSE conference in Portland, on Greenfoot day in March 2008.

  11. Project Information • Website for the Going to the Moon Project http://cmer.cis.uoguelph.ca/gotomoon/ • Website contains: • General & Contact Information • All 10 Lab Instructions • All 10 Unfinished Lab Scenario Codes • Capstone Project Instructions • Unfinished Capstone Project Scenario Code • Finished Scenarios available for Instructors by request only!

  12. Thank You. Any questions? http://cmer.cis.uoguelph.ca/gotomoon/ Email: randy.gallant@humber.ca

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