Design of a Serious Game on Exploratory Software Testing to Improve Student Engagement

Niels Doorn, Niels Doorn, Tanja E. J. Vos, Tanja E. J. Vos, Beatriz Marín

2025

Abstract

Teaching software testing in computer science education faces challenges due to its abstract nature and students’ focus on approaches using paradigms based on rationalism. Exploratory testing, which uses a paradigm based on empiricism and employs reflective learning, is under-represented in computer science curricula. To address this gap, game-based learning presents promising approaches to enhance engagement and foster critical thinking in software testing education. This position paper presents the design of a serious game to support the teaching of exploratory software testing to improve the students’ engagement. The game integrates software testing tours and uses Socratic questioning as scaffolding to promote deeper reflection-in-action, allowing students to experience hands-on learning in software testing. Using a mapping review, this study identifies the most effective gamification techniques for software testing education and principles of Socratic questioning. Based on these findings, we designed a game that focusses on exploratory testing scenarios, where players follow a tour-based test strategy on a system under test.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Doorn N., Vos T. and Marín B. (2025). Design of a Serious Game on Exploratory Software Testing to Improve Student Engagement. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE; ISBN 978-989-758-742-9, SciTePress, pages 806-813. DOI: 10.5220/0013476200003928

in Bibtex Style

@conference{enase25,
author={Niels Doorn and Tanja Vos and Beatriz Marín},
title={Design of a Serious Game on Exploratory Software Testing to Improve Student Engagement},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE},
year={2025},
pages={806-813},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013476200003928},
isbn={978-989-758-742-9},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE
TI - Design of a Serious Game on Exploratory Software Testing to Improve Student Engagement
SN - 978-989-758-742-9
AU - Doorn N.
AU - Vos T.
AU - Marín B.
PY - 2025
SP - 806
EP - 813
DO - 10.5220/0013476200003928
PB - SciTePress