Games for Coding to Attract New Students to STEM

There is a need to increase the number of students, especially women, choosing programming and STEM disciplines. We need innovative approaches in schools to better engage students and awake their interest in computer science. This paper addresses the need to create tools that effectively support the learning of programming and the development of computational thinking, highlighting why video games can be an effective educational tool for it and also attract new students to STEM. The Game4Coding Erasmus+ project proposes the design of a video game called CodeQuest, using a game genre that has not been frequently used before to address the teaching of programming, the monster tamer genre. We consider that video games have a number of benefits such as that stimulate active learning, are engaging for a wide range of students, and present information in a way that is attractive to learners. We want to explore this kind of game's effectiveness as a learning tool as well as its effect on the perception of STEM disciplines and programming to attract new public to coding (especially girls).