Teaching ‘hardcore science’ to arts and design students: Reflections on the development of a basic programming course

Abstract

This article reports on the longitudinal development of a computer-programming course designed to meet the needs of students who enrolled in a specific higher education game development programme during the period of 2006 to 2010. The students came from three different arts and design-related strands of the programme, and had that in common that very few had taken advanced science classes as part of their upper-secondary education. This again meant that they were rather poorly equipped for learning computer programming, which they needed to master in order to tap into the full potential of the interactive and creative processes which their computers allowed for. Consequently, the programming course was designed in a way that allowed the students to practically engage in creating a computer game alongside being taught the actual programming skills, as well as the mathematics and physics needed in order to efficiently utilise those skills. A working hypothesis for the project was that if the responsible teachers were able to run the course in a way that cohered with the principles of problem-based learning, this would create an environment which would enhance the students’ motivation to learn basic programming as well as the operative and innovation skills needed for fulfilling the course requirements. In addition, ideas developed within the field of situated learning constituted theoretical points of departure for developing the course. The article describes the practical and theoretical points of departure for developing the programming course and reflects on the experiences made from running it. Summing up, the authors conclude that the why and how of teaching needs to be in line with students’ worlds in order for educational experiences to be considered as meaningful.