Video Game Programming with Python to Develop Logical Thinking in High School: A Methodological Proposal to Counter Cognitive Overload in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

Abstract The development of logical thinking is a core competency in STEM education that assessments identify as lacking in the High School Program. Compounding this gap is an emerging phenomenon: the tendency among students to rely on generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to solve problems and submit answers without conducting their own analysis—a pattern of cognitive offloading that recent literature associates with the erosion of critical thinking and the loss of judgment. This article presents a methodological guide that uses video game programming with Python and the Tkinter library to strengthen logical reasoning in High School students, with the simulation of projectile motion serving as the central focus. The proposal is grounded in constructivism, Kolb’s experiential learning theory, and active learning methodologies, and is organized as design-based research, reporting on the design and internal validation phase of a prototype. The instructional sequence progresses through sixteen modules that guide students from basic syntax to a cannon simulator with real-world physics. It is argued that positioning the student as a producer of logic—who breaks down problems, encodes the physical model, and debugs their own errors—constitutes a deliberate pedagogical counterbalance to cognitive offloading, because it restores the cognitive effort and productive challenge that the uncritical use of AI tends to eliminate. The expected learning outcomes, the formative assessment rubric, and the implications for educational policy are discussed.