Recursion is one of the most powerful problem-solving techniques in computer science, but many students seem to struggle with the concept of recursion. In addition, the instructors find it hard to teach this concept using traditional teaching method. This paper presents a game module titled "Recursive Runner" that aims to reinforce student understanding of recursion in a game. Four undergraduate students developed the game with GameMaker Studio in three months. The game was designed for short gameplay time and it does not require any prior experience in gaming. The objective of the game is to provide the students with a fun environment to visualize and follow the flow of execution of recursive functions. This paper presents the game design and implementation in detail and shares our experiences in using this module in the CSC1311 Computer Programming II and CSC2331 Data Structures classes at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU). A pretest, a posttest and a survey were developed and used in the evaluation process. In addition, a lab assignment was designed to use with the game to evaluate student understanding of the concept. Initial assessment outcomes show promising results and the feedback is positive according to the survey and interview.

This paper presents a game-like instructional module titled "The Lost Java Code" for teaching decision structures (if, if-else, if-else-if and switch) and related concepts in Computer Programming I class. Developed by two undergraduate students with GameMaker 8.1, it is a side scroll game where participants need to stop at all the information booths to learn/review the concepts at each level and then answer all the questions correctly in order to open the gate to the next level. The objective of the game is to provide the participants with a fun environment to review and practice the concepts of decision structures. This paper presents the game design and implementation in detail and shares our experiences in using this module in the CSC1310 Computer Programming I class at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU). Initial assessment outcomes show promising results and student feedback is very positive.

This paper presents a game-like module titled Java Ninja that is designed to help students understand the concept of Inheritance, which is one of the most important concepts of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). This module has been used and evaluated in the CSC1311 Computer Programming II class during spring 2013 at Winston-Salem State University. The pre-test, post-test and survey were used in the evaluation process. The results were promising and the feedback from students was very positive. Our experiences show that this module has a positive impact on learning the concepts of inheritance.