Physical computing has grown over the past decade leading to diverse experiences and tools for novices. Despite the variety of tools, Arduinos remain a leading choice in education. However, few studies examine how nov...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450361859
Physical computing has grown over the past decade leading to diverse experiences and tools for novices. Despite the variety of tools, Arduinos remain a leading choice in education. However, few studies examine how novices are learning about the programming and electronics concepts, and how tools impact their experience. The research presented reports on the qualitative analysis of a laboratory study in which 31 novices work with the Arduino for the first time. Video and audio recordings captured participants' actions and thoughts as they used the Arduino platform with a blocks-based programming environment, and two electronics prototyping tools-the standard Breadboard and a modular breadboard called BitBlox. The study presents three main contributions to the literature: first, it provides a codebook of the common breakdowns faced by novices;second, it offers insight into the work processes of novices;and third, it demonstrates ways that the tools used by novices can affect their experience.
Computational models and simulations can be powerful tools to help learners understand a wide variety of natural phenomena. However, understanding and learning from computational models requires learners to comprehend...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781728148496
Computational models and simulations can be powerful tools to help learners understand a wide variety of natural phenomena. However, understanding and learning from computational models requires learners to comprehend the rules agents follow that lead to emergent outcomes. blocks-based programming is useful in scaffolding learners in the early stage of programming tasks. We posit that students can authentically interact with agent-based modeling via a blocks-based dialect of the popular ABM language NetLogo, dubbed NetTango, across many difficulty levels. Specifically, we discuss three different activities in which we have integrated blocks-based programming into STEM classrooms that show blocks can be used for activities of increasing computational engagement and difficulty.
blocks-based programming environments are often inaccessible for children with visual impairments who cannot interact with their visual components. We present our work on expanding blocks4All, a touchscreen-based bloc...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450366762
blocks-based programming environments are often inaccessible for children with visual impairments who cannot interact with their visual components. We present our work on expanding blocks4All, a touchscreen-basedblocks-based programming environment that is accessible with screen readers, to improve its accessibility and expand its functionality. We describe our designs to support more complex functionality such as modifiable blocks, variables and functions and provide our code to encourage others to make their own environments accessible. We plan to evaluate the updated interface with children with low vision participating in a robotics competition.
This thesis describes the design and use of an online system of computerized lessons built to teach reading and writing to students with learning disabilities as part of a large research project on specific learning d...
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This thesis describes the design and use of an online system of computerized lessons built to teach reading and writing to students with learning disabilities as part of a large research project on specific learning disabilities in written language. The system comprises two main components: HAWK, the portion that teaches reading and writing skills, and Kokopelli’s World, the addition to HAWK that introduces programming instruction. Kokopelli’s World is a novel blocks-based coding environment designed to cater to the needs of dyslexic students. The thesis also presents two user studies that explore the relationship between programming and dyslexia. Results suggest that different measures of dyslexia may have different correlation with programming success. The thesis also presents detailed coding experiences of two dyslexic students and discusses them in terms of a newly constructed set of recurring programming patterns. These studies have identified a set of hypotheses about how dyslexic students relate to computer programming that can help structure future research on programming by dyslexic children.
We developed a novel node-link style interface that can be introduced into a block-based visual programming language as an alternative representation of named variables. By using our new interface, the programmer no l...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9783319912448;9783319912431
We developed a novel node-link style interface that can be introduced into a block-based visual programming language as an alternative representation of named variables. By using our new interface, the programmer no longer needs to decide the name of a variable. Tracking the data flow in the program can be easily achieved. Since keyboard typing is not required, the coding is expected to be more accessible to children and persons with disabilities, and it is also suitable for touch operations on mobile phones and tablets. In our system, as the number of variables increases, the intersections of the links increase, which makes the appearance complicated. To avoid this problem, we implemented improvements in the design, such as emphasizing the focused link list, and making the curves of the links consistent.
Snap! is blocks-based programming language that inherits a design and vocabulary from Scratch, but has been extended with support for user-defined functions, and robust built-in libraries. The Snap! Cloud software has...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450358903
Snap! is blocks-based programming language that inherits a design and vocabulary from Scratch, but has been extended with support for user-defined functions, and robust built-in libraries. The Snap! Cloud software has been running for over 5 years and recently passed 250,000 users and 2 million projects of which nearly 600,000 are shared publicly. We have been to do an exploratory analysis the database of public projects to better understand how students are programming an using Snap!. This analysis is being conducted using a cleaned up XML-based representation of Snap! projects, which allows querying for data using SQL to extract information from project files. So far, we've seen that projects in Snap! computationally more complex than those found in Scratch, and make use of Snap!'s advanced features. Combined with growing use, we hope to give context to the ways which Snap! (and other) blocks-based languages are being used in classrooms. While there has been a discussion of code smells in Scratch, we haven't seen any discussions using Snap! and hope to show its additional functionality helps write clean code. Finally, we are interested in presenting a clear story of growing use for Snap! that is a compelling case to teachers (and subsequently their students) that blocks-based languages can be quite popular.
Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a form of computational modeling whereby a phenomenon is modeled in terms of agents and their interactions. By looking at scientific phenomenon using ABMs, students can learn to understan...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450358903
Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a form of computational modeling whereby a phenomenon is modeled in terms of agents and their interactions. By looking at scientific phenomenon using ABMs, students can learn to understand the micro interactions that are responsible for so many of the seemingly complex systems in the world around them. In addition, by integrating CT skills into science classrooms, we can simultaneously broaden participation in computing, provide a more authentic scientific experience for learners, and encourage deeper scientific content learning. In this hands-on workshop, we introduce participants to two parallel agent-based modeling environments: NetTango (Olson & Horn, 2011), a blocks-based language, and NetLogo (Wilensky, 1999), a text-based language. The workshop will focus on contextualizing agent-based modeling activities within high school STEM classrooms, allowing participants to explore how computer science can be integrated into existing high school STEM curricula. Over the course of the workshop, participants will gain first-hand experience with ABM and how to design ABM activities in classrooms using NetTango and NetLogo. In addition, the workshop will feature open discussions in which participants will discuss the learning trajectories and affordances of the different programming modalities, brainstorm models that could be built for student exploration, and design activities that incorporate both scientific and computer science content for existing curricula.
blocks-based, graphical programming environments are increasingly becoming the way that novices are being introduced to the practice of programming and the field of computer science more broadly. An open question surr...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450346986
blocks-based, graphical programming environments are increasingly becoming the way that novices are being introduced to the practice of programming and the field of computer science more broadly. An open question surrounding the use of such tools is how well they prepare learners for using more conventional text-basedprogramming languages. In an effort to address this transition, new programming environments are providing support for both blocks-based and text-basedprogramming. In this paper, we present findings from a study investigating how learners use a dual-modality environment where they can choose to work in either a blocks-based or text-based interface, moving between them as they choose. Our analysis investigates what modality learners choose to work in, and if and why they move from one representation to the other within a single project. We conclude with a discussion of design implications and future directions for this work. This work contributes to our understanding of the affordances of blocks-based programming environments and advances our knowledge on how best to utilize them.
Dronely is a visual block programming language that allows users to build programs for the control of small drones. Dronely uses drones as a way of raising interest in computer science among K-12 students by presentin...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781450350242
Dronely is a visual block programming language that allows users to build programs for the control of small drones. Dronely uses drones as a way of raising interest in computer science among K-12 students by presenting a user-friendly and intuitive drag-anddrop interface for building programs that have a physically observable effect. Although the language was designed so that simple tasks are straightforward to accomplish, more complex programs can still be implemented in Dronely. In this paper, we introduce the language features provided in Dronely and outline the implementation details of using Blockly on an Android device.
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