Dramatising learning experience: Unleashing the power of ‘Nukkad Natak’ for code writing

Often Nukkad Natak or street plays are based on issues concerning the society. But what if a Nukkad Natak is performed to showcase the process of writing a code? Interesting, isn’t it! Thus exploring a unique teaching style, Manpreet Sehgal, an Associate Professor at School of Engineering and Technology in Apeejay Stya University (ASU) takes an innovative approach in teaching coding to the 1st-year B.Tech Computer Science Engineering students, thereby crushing their fear of learning how to write a code. 

The Professor taught coding of the Tic Tac Toegame using Nukkad Natak style. The aim was to innovate the way coding is taught while empowering the imagination of students so that they can envision the code fragments playing with each other.

According to Prof. Manpreet, “This dramatisation of coding proved as an agent of instilling interest toward coding among students, who earlier were thinking coding is not their cup of tea. We, as human beings, tend to grasp much more what is being visualised, so this exercise was to visualise the coding components in action, first in imagination and then in reality.”

The engaging session further gave students the insights about how projects are written. Enthusiastically participating, students understood the complexities of the project as they witnessed them in motion.

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Sharing her experience, Muskan said, “When we wrote the code in class, it was tough to understand at first. But as soon as we implemented this code in the form of dialogues, we understood every function in a much better way.” 

Similarly for Krishna, Tanisha, Rahul, Vikash, Tushar, Utkarsh, Priyanshu, Dipanshi and Diksha, they explained how this innovative project broadened their understanding of programming allowing them to explore different forms of creative expression.  It also enhanced their thinking level on how different functions work and how they can create a game so easily. For all of them, the session was an immersive learning experience as they felt like they were a part of the game thereby enhancing their overall enjoyment.

Undoubtedly, making code learning interesting and easy fosters engagement, boosts motivation, and facilitates better comprehension and retention of programming concepts. 

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Another student Lakhanpal mentioned, “When I was  writing dialogues of code, I got totally engrossed in it. This method made writing code for any game really easy. This session gave me a lot of confidence that I can create a game and do better in coding.”

CSE students Vanshika and Grace also express how they got completely absorbed while writing the code for this game. They credit Manpreet sir’s way of teaching via Nukka Natak to write a game’s code.