Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research Trends on Learning Basic Programming Through Games
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Games’ inclusion into programming education has received increased attention due to their ability to improve student engagement, motivation, and problem-solving skills while learning basic programming concepts. Despite the increasing number of publications in this discipline, a thorough grasp of the research landscape, emerging themes, and publication patterns is still lacking. As a result, this research provides a bibliometric overview of research on games in beginning programming instruction. Bibliographic information was obtained from the Scopus database using specific keyword combinations relating to games, game-based learning, and fundamental programming instruction. The analysis looked at publishing trends, top authors, nations, institutions, source titles, number of citation, and keyword co-occurrences. To identify key research clusters and thematic developments, visualization and mapping approaches were used in conjunction with bibliometric tools. The data show a large increase in publications in recent years, indicating a growing scholarly interest in game-based methods to programming instruction. Furthermore, the findings point to emerging research opportunities in adaptive learning, immersive technologies, and game design frameworks for non-computer learners. This research adds to the current literature by offering a thorough examination of the intellectual structure and development trends in games for programming instruction. The findings may help academics, educators, and instructional designers identify research gaps and direct future studies on the development of effective game-based programming learning environments.
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Science Applications
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7204190341