Understanding the role of fun in learning to code

Abstract There are growing efforts amongst educators and especially researchers in gamification and maker spaces to ensure that learning environments are fun and enjoyable. Accordingly, efforts to evaluate whether students enjoyed a certain learning activity are often an important aspect of innovations. However, the role of fun in learning in the aforementioned fields is not well understood not least due to a lack of a common theoretical framework for defining the concept of fun and for supporting its measurement. This study set out to investigate the role that fun plays in students’ learning to code and its impact on their attitude towards the topic. We designed a two-hour-long playful coding workshop and measured the experienced fun using FunQ, a theoretically motivated and empirically grounded inventory for measuring fun in learning activities. Eighty-six children (N = 86) with ages between 9 and 12 participated in the study. For the analysis, we used structural equation modelling and mediation analysis. Our results support efforts of educational researchers and practitioners who try to make learning activities more fun for students. While fun was not shown to have a direct effect on learning assessed through a self-report measure, it had a significant and positive indirect effect on perceived learning through student’s attitude towards coding. Future research should examine whether this empirical finding extends to learning activities beyond coding and different age groups.