Abstracts

The talk provides background on how children learn software testing, for example, through a software testing book for children. It explores how children have learned to test, how and why such a book came to be, and, finally, what insights can be drawn from the way children test to help adults become better testers.

There is plenty of inspiration from the popular Dragons Out book about software testing, which is available in German (as Drachen Raus!) and four other languages. The book has been read in schools. Children have also read it independently after receiving it from teachers or parents. Schools have used the free accompanying software testing presentation to organize one or two lessons on software testing. Coding and mathematics classes, in particular, have proven to be well suited to learning software testing.

As a guest lecturer in several upper secondary school classes, I have interviewed children about how they learned software testing and what they think about it. Now it is time to reveal the secrets of how children learn to test. These insights also show how adults could learn in a much more effective and enjoyable way. We will discuss storytelling as a learning method, as well as hands-on practice and the importance of fun as an essential element of learning.

In the brief recap of the book project, the audience is encouraged to spread the joy of software testing by following my unique example. I chose to write a software testing book for children to help address the significant shortage of software testing expertise in the ICT industry, a shortage that continues to grow. I also wanted to show people an alternative path into the exciting world of software. Coding is not the only discipline within the software industry. The project took almost three years. During that time, I founded a company for the book project, wrote the book in Finnish, worked with numerous pilot readers through multiple review rounds, translated the book into English, found publishers for both the Finnish and English editions, organized a crowdfunding campaign, gave many lectures in schools, and presented at conferences and trade fairs. The project culminated in associations and companies donating books to schools, with a diploma of donation being presented to the Minister of Education. Finally, I received the EuroSTAR Testing Excellence Award, which I believe recognizes not only my 30 years of dedication to the software testing community but also, in particular, this initiative to bring software testing to children. Since then, the book has also been translated into German, French, and Polish.

The talk reflects on how insights from the way children learn can be applied to adult learning. These insights can be summarized as follows: use real-life examples and analogies; be extremely clear and concise; emphasize hands-on learning with practical exercises; engage all the senses by listening, observing, discussing, and drawing mind maps; use a shared workspace to visualize the real-time status of testing (e.g., Mural or Miro); and get your hands dirty by testing buggy software immediately while explaining your thought process.

The talk also includes a fantasy drawing exercise based on a software testing analogy, with a Drachen Raus! software testing book awarded as a prize to a randomly selected participant.