Karel Robot: A fun way to learn how to code

Learn how to code by Gaming

In the modern era software is in our lives more than ever. Startup companies in Tech industry are created every day. This creates an increasing demand in software developer positions that is getting more and more difficult to cover. Furthermore programming has been introduced in many schools in all over the world in early stages of education. Programming is considered a great educational subject equally important with math or physics.

Tech companies nowadays struggle to find qualified candidates to fill these spots. Many of them especially the big ones are willing to hire people that have just the fundamental knowledge of a programming language and further train them themself.
This decision is further reinforced by the fact that universities fail to prepare graduates for a software developer carrier mainly because there is a huge gap between the academic and the business world.
At the same time there is a vast amount of free online courses for all kinds of subjects that can teach students how to code.
This situation presents an opportunity for people who are really interested in programming to claim a career as a developer by using self teaching techniques. A University degree in computer science of course is more than welcome but nowadays is not that necessary.

Besides job security learn coding has a lot of mental benefits:
  • Promotes logical and abstract thinking
  • It's a very creative process!
  • Encourages people to make mistakes and be persistent
  • Students get an immediate feedback of their work

The problem with modern educational tools

The educational tools that are available nowadays usually provide some theory along with a number of exercises. The problem with that is that after the student completes a course like that he/she does not know what to do with that knowledge or where to apply it. As a result it's very easy to forget what he/she has learned. A better way to acquire and master a skill is to have a goal or a number of tasks that require continuous practice and repetition to achieve it.

Students need a playground where they can practice

Whether you want to learn programming for purely educational or professional purposes you need an engaging environment in which you can learn through repetition.
Karel Robot is an educational game that helps players to do exactly that. The player has to complete a series of levels in which he learns a new programming concept and at the same time practices what he already knows.
Throughout the game the player considers his/her programming skills as necessary tools in order to progress. As a result his/her learning process becomes a rewarding and fun experience. In situations like this the student's brain tend to learn faster and in a more persistent way because it is tricked to believe that all these new knowledge is necessary for survival.
Besides the technical knowledge the game provides the mindset of a true developer. That being said players are encouraged to make mistakes in contrast to the traditional educational system where mistakes result in a bad grade.
Furthermore as the game progresses the levels become harder and require critical thinking as well as analytical and abstraction skills.

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Instructions:

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