Computer science related topics are increasingly introduced at elementary school level, aiming not only to establish basic knowledge, but also to foster affective aspects such as motivation or self-efficacy. While cor...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798400704239
Computer science related topics are increasingly introduced at elementary school level, aiming not only to establish basic knowledge, but also to foster affective aspects such as motivation or self-efficacy. While corrective feedback is helpful to achieve the former, it may negatively impact the latter. This raises the question on how to provide feedback in an encouraging way that makes learners feel competent but also autonomous. To shed light on this question, we conducted a robotics course with 45 children aged nine to eleven years, in which we studied their preferences when given a choice of either solving a problem themselves (with only a hint from the tutor) or being given the solution directly. We find that children like the freedom of choice and slightly prefer solving their problems themselves, which in turn is significantly correlated with a higher improvement in self-efficacy for building and programming robots. Interestingly, however, only girls exhibit a significant correlation with resulting knowledge on building, and only eleven year old children with resulting knowledge on programming. These insights allow us to provide concrete recommendations on how to give feedback and involve elementary school children and their preferences to promote both knowledge and self-efficacy.
Although block-based programming languages like Scratch simplify the creation of programs, learning to program can nevertheless be challenging. Program analysis tools such as linters therefore support learners by prov...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798400710056
Although block-based programming languages like Scratch simplify the creation of programs, learning to program can nevertheless be challenging. Program analysis tools such as linters therefore support learners by providing feedback about potential bugs in their programs. What such tools cannot do, however, is detect whether these bugs are subsequently fixed correctly, even though this is a crucial aspect of learning to program. In this paper, we therefore introduce fix patterns as a way to automatically detect whether instances of bug patterns found by program analysis tools have been correctly fixed, in contrast to the relevant code just having been deleted. Using fix patterns to analyse a dataset of 32,000 publicly shared Scratch projects containing bug patterns reveals that only 2,566 projects received changes and out of these changes not even 8% fix the bug. This implies most Scratchers do not actually fix the bug patterns in their projects. This not only demonstrates that fix patterns are a valuable tool to understand what learners do, but they also hold promise to help encourage learners, and to inform instructors about the progress of their learners.
This study examines the effects of plugged and unplugged programming tools used in algorithm teaching at the K-12 level on student computational thinking skills and to determine whether gender is a factor in this proc...
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This study examines the effects of plugged and unplugged programming tools used in algorithm teaching at the K-12 level on student computational thinking skills and to determine whether gender is a factor in this process. The study group was designed with a control group pre-test-post-test;quasi-experimental model, that consisted of 109 students in 6th grade at a secondary school. 3 of 4 branches in the school were randomly selected and the experiment and control groups were determined by random assignment. During the study, experiment group 1 was taught *** while experiment group 2 was taught unplugged tools, and the control group was taught Scratch. The study lasted for 6 weeks and had 2 lessons per week. The data collection tool used was the "Computational Thinking Levels Scale" as the pre- and post-tests. Our findings showed that while the group that was taught unplugged activities showed positive development for computational thinking skills, there were no significant improvements observed in the other groups. Also, when comparing computational thinking skills, again, there was no significant difference found among the groups. It was observed that group and gender cofactors did not create significant variation among the groups;and when examined on a group basis, differences were found to favor male students when they were performing unplugged activities.
Middle school students often enter Computer Science (CS) classes without previous CS or Computational Thinking (CT) instruction. This study evaluated how ***'s block-based programming curriculum affects middle sch...
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Middle school students often enter Computer Science (CS) classes without previous CS or Computational Thinking (CT) instruction. This study evaluated how ***'s block-based programming curriculum affects middle school students' CT skills and attitudes toward CT and CS. Sixteen students participated in the study. This was a mixed methods action research study that used pre- and post-tests, surveys, artifacts, and interviews as data sources. Descriptive statistics, paired samples t-tests, and inductive thematic analysis were administered. Findings showed a statistically significant increase in participants' algorithmic thinking, debugging, and pattern recognition skills but not in abstraction skills. Attitudes toward CT and CS improved but the difference was not statistically significant. Qualitative themes revealed benefits of game-based learning to promote CT skills, collaboration to promote successful error debugging, and enjoyment of programming resulting from a balance between structured guidance and creative freedom. Findings emphasize the importance of low-threshold and engaging strategies to introduce novice learners to CT and CS.
Debugging is essential for identifying and rectifying errors in programming, yet time constraints and students' trivialization of errors often hinder progress. This study examines differences in debugging challeng...
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Debugging is essential for identifying and rectifying errors in programming, yet time constraints and students' trivialization of errors often hinder progress. This study examines differences in debugging challenges and strategies among students with varying computational thinking (CT) competencies using weekly coding journals from an online undergraduate CT course. Participants used Scratch, a block-based programming language, and their journals from five assignments were analyzed using Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and Structural Topic Modeling. High-performing students engaged with diverse topics and specific blocks tied to their weekly projects while low-performing students faced repetitive and broad challenges, such as understanding motion blocks and broadcast concepts. These patterns reveal that low-performing students struggle particularly during the 'diagnose the fault' phase of debugging, often hindering their progress in the final stage. Such challenges highlight the necessity for targeted educational interventions to improve the debugging proficiency and overall CT skills. The study underscores the importance of further research into students' logical thinking processes during code review and debugging, suggesting the use of think-aloud protocols and detailed tracking of debugging practices for deeper insights. This research contributes to the field by showing that differentiated instruction and strategic support can enhance debugging skills across different student performance levels.
High-resolution displays on mobile devices, accurate motion sensors, and efficient mobile processors have taken virtual reality (VR), essentially employed in laboratory, to everyday environments, including homes, work...
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High-resolution displays on mobile devices, accurate motion sensors, and efficient mobile processors have taken virtual reality (VR), essentially employed in laboratory, to everyday environments, including homes, workplaces, and classrooms. Regarding programming education, it has been investigated in conjunction with various educational strategies, such as block-based programming (BBP), metaphors, and storytelling. However, studies that adopt VR predominantly employ high-end head-mounted displays (HMDs) and powerful computers to deliver interactive and immersive learning experiences. Conversely, investigations involving mobile platforms and low-cost HMDs often lack user interactivity. Towards filling that gap, this study introduces SSPOT-VR (Space Station for programming Training in Virtual Reality), a cost-effective solution tailored for children and teenagers that integrates interactive methods for the teaching and learning of programming concepts and the simulated experience of an immersive digitally created world. Three surveys, namely S1\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$S_1$$\end{document}, S2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$S_2$$\end{document} and S3\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$S_3$$\end{document}, involving SSPOT-VR and K-12 students were conducted. S1\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{
Recently, creativity has been acknowledged for its importance in improving computer science learning and attitudes. However, very little is known about how to integrate creativity in preservice teacher computing educa...
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Recently, creativity has been acknowledged for its importance in improving computer science learning and attitudes. However, very little is known about how to integrate creativity in preservice teacher computing education. Toward this end, we developed a creativity-enhancement intervention in an online Creative Computing instructional module to introduce preservice elementary teachers (N = 76) to the ideas of creativity in the context of computing education. Using a pre-/posttest quasi-experimental design, we examined the effects of the creativity-enhancement intervention on participants' person-, process-, and Scratch product-related creativity compared to the same curriculum that did not include the creativity-enhancement intervention. Preservice elementary teachers who received the creativity-enhancement intervention reported significantly higher person- and process-related creativity and produced more creative Scratch projects than their peers who did not receive the intervention. When looking at the three creativity strands holistically, the study findings provide strong evidence that the intervention had a positive effect on preservice elementary teachers' creativity in the context of computing education.
block-based programming environments like Scratch are widely used in introductory programming courses. They facilitate learning pivotal programming concepts by eliminating syntactical errors, but logical errors that b...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798400710384
block-based programming environments like Scratch are widely used in introductory programming courses. They facilitate learning pivotal programming concepts by eliminating syntactical errors, but logical errors that break the desired program behaviour are nevertheless possible. Finding such errors requires testing, i.e., running the program and checking its behaviour. In many programming environments, this step can be automated by providing executable tests as code;in Scratch, testing can only be done manually by invoking events through user input and observing the rendered stage. While this is arguably sufficient for learners, the lack of automated testing may be inhibitive for teachers wishing to provide feedback on their students' solutions. In order to address this issue, we introduce a new category of blocks in Scratch that enables the creation of automated tests. With these blocks, students and teachers alike can create tests and receive feedback directly within the Scratch environment using familiar block-based programming logic. To facilitate the creation and to enable batch processing sets of student solutions, we extend the Scratch user interface with an accompanying test interface. We evaluated this testing framework with 28 teachers who created tests for a popular Scratch game and subsequently used these tests to assess and provide feedback on student implementations. An overall accuracy of 0.93 of teachers' tests compared to manually evaluating the functionality of 21 student solutions demonstrates that teachers are able to create and effectively use tests. A subsequent survey confirms that teachers consider the block-based test approach useful.
This paper introduces VEX CTE, an educational industrial-like six-axis robotic arm that can be controlled and programmed through four distinct methods, catering to users of all programming abilities, from novice stude...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798350376920;9798350366136
This paper introduces VEX CTE, an educational industrial-like six-axis robotic arm that can be controlled and programmed through four distinct methods, catering to users of all programming abilities, from novice students who have never experienced an industrial robotic arm to advance programmers. VEX CTE can be programmed by: (1) Direct manipulation with a virtual teach pendant;(2) Direct connection programming using block-based programming, C++, or Python. (3) programming as a system with the VEX EXP Brain using blockbasedprogramming, C++, or Python. By offering a range of programming approaches, VEX CTE accommodates users at their current skill levels, while providing mechanisms to advance from basic to more sophisticated and powerful programming techniques, as well as from simple to more complex robotic arm setups. Supporting four distinct programming approaches, which span from single arm to multisystem configurations including conveyor belts, VEX CTE is a novel addition to the ecosystem of tools designed to introduce novices to career and technical education practices.
The block-based programming environment Scratch is widely used by learners to make their first steps into the world of programming. Often applied in educational contexts, both teachers and students would benefit from ...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9798400710384
The block-based programming environment Scratch is widely used by learners to make their first steps into the world of programming. Often applied in educational contexts, both teachers and students would benefit from quick and individual feedback on their Scratch projects. To provide such feedback, we extend the Scratch ecosystem with the concept of automated tests that are integrated into the block editor. A set of new Scratch blocks allows the creation of tests that can automatically check the behaviour of Scratch programs, and an intuitive test interface enables the control of created tests. To assist teachers in evaluating an entire class of programs, our interface offers a batch evaluation feature, enabling users to test several Scratch files against a single suite of block-based tests.
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