Utilizing a Serious Game via Open Sim Standalone Server and Scratch4OS for Introductory Programming Courses in Secondary Education: Their Effect on Student Engagement

This study suggests a constructionist-learning framework to amplify students´ engagement in introductory programming courses via a serious game that was held in Open Sim standalone server integrated with Scratch4OS. Fifty five (n=55) voluntary students from three different High schools have participated and experienced in Co. Co. I. A., a 3D mind-trap puzzle game. The empirical study findings indicated that behavioral engagement (attention, retention and energy expenditure for activity completion) does not only have a linear correlation with cognitive engagement (learning strategies for the construction of the knowledge domain), but it also has a positive nexus with emotional engagement (positive emotions and achievement orientation) in collaborative learning tasks, causing the reinforcement of the other two factors too.