Research and design of a mathematics game in Scratch for children with deficit of attention

Actualmente las TIC han penetrado todo el quehacer humano, tenemos millones de celulares y ordenadores que usamos para desarrollar todos los aspectos diarios en nuestra vidas, de acuerdo a esto y a cifras presentadas por la UNESCO en el mundo existen alrededor de 123 millones de jóvenes que usan los teléfonos móviles para jugar, estudiar y comunicarse, debido a esto y en niños menores de 5 años se presentan problemas de déficit de atención lo que los limita de forma drástica al momento de adquirir sus primeras competencias en matemáticas, por lo tanto el presente proyecto permite presentar una contribución al usar juegos didácticos basados en herramientas computacionales como es el caso de Scratch que permite crear juegos de destrezas para que estos estudiantes aprendan a sumar y restar de una manera lúdica y divertida y de Unity como motor de videojuego multiplataforma, disponible como plataforma de desarrollo para Microsoft WindowsCurrently, ICT have penetrated all of human activity, we have millions of cell phones and computers that we use to develop all the daily aspects in our lives, according to this and figures presented by UNESCO in the world there are about 123 million young people who use mobile phones to play, study and communicate, due to this and in children under 5 years of age there are problems of attention deficit which limits them drastically when they acquire their first competences in mathematics, therefore the present project allows to present a contribution when using didactic games based on computational tools such as Scratch that allows to create skill sets so that these students learn to add and subtract in a playful and fun way and Unity as a multi-platform videogame engine, available as a development platform for Microsoft Window

Meta-Analisis Media Scratch terhadap Keterampilan Computational Thinking Siswa SMA dalam Pembelajaran Fisika

Abstrak. Pembelajaran jarak jauh membuat siswa kesulitan dalam belajar fisika yang abstrak sehingga diperlukan media yang menarik minat belajar siswa. Scratch merupakan salah satu media yang mendukung dalam pelaksanaan pembelajaran tersebut. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mengetahui kelebihan dan kekurangan serta keterampilan computational thinking selama menggunakan media pembelajaran scratch pada fisika jenjang SMA. Metode yang digunakan adalah Systematic Literature Review dengan analisis deskriptif kualitatif. Scratch mampu meningkatkan keterampilan computational thinking siswa karena didesain untuk mengembangkan kreatifitas dengan membuat animasi dan simulasi, kemampuan berpikir secara sistematis, kolaboratif dan dapat merealisasikan algoritma sehingga mampu menerapkan pola pikir logika yang dapat membuat konsep sederhana menjadi kompleks dalam pembelajaran fisika. Abstract. Distance education makes it difficult for students to learn abstract physics that is needed media that attracts students interesting. Scratch is one of the media that supports the implementation of this learning. The research aims to determine strengths and weaknesses, computational thinking skills while using media scratch in high school physics. The method used is a systematic literature review with qualitative descriptive analysis. Scratch can improve computational thinking skills because it develops creativity, think systematically, collaboratively, and realize algorithms made up apply logical thinking patterns that can make simple concepts complex in physics learning

The role of basic mathematics concepts in programming teaching and learning

App Inventor is an online tool to create apps for mobile devices with Android operating system. With this tool, teachers can develop applications and video games that help students to learn fundamental concepts of mathematics through programming. The implementation of the integer division algorithm firstly in App Inventor, and later in C++ using successive subtractions required a detailed explanation of this algorithm. We have implemented an algorithm that uses the integer division theorem in response to a problem detected among mathematics teachers interested in teaching programming. This study involved 19 participants in 4 institutions in Palmira and Medellín (Colombia). The results indicated that the programming languages such as C++, Java and Python presented the erroneous results in the integer division when the divisor is a negative number, a similar situation to that was observed among the participants who presented quotients and incorrect residues in most cases. Using App Inventor in a programming course with teachers Maths allowed us to enrich the application with a video game for the student’ self-evaluation in relation to the appropriation of the algorithm of the division of integer numbers

Evaluating a Course for Teaching Advanced Programming Concepts with Scratch to Preservice Kindergarten Teachers: A Case Study in Greece

Coding is a new literacy for the twenty-first century, and as a literacy, coding enables new ways of thinking and new ways of communicating and expressing ideas, as well as new ways of civic participation. A growing number of countries, in Europe and beyond, have established clear policies and frameworks for introducing computational thinking (CT) and computer programming to young children. In this chapter, we discuss a game-based approach to coding education for preservice kindergarten teachers using Scratch. The aim of using Scratch was to excite students’ interest and familiarize them with the basics of programming in an open-ended, project-based, and personally meaningful environment for a semester course in the Department of Preschool Education in the University of Crete. For 13 weeks, students were introduced to the main Scratch concepts and, afterward, were asked to prepare their projects. For the projects, they were required to design their own interactive stories to teach certain concepts about mathematics or physical science to preschool-age students. The results we obtained were more satisfactory than expected and, in some regards, encouraging if one considers the fact that the research participants had no prior experiences with computational thinking

Recommender Systems and Scratch: An integrated approach for enhancing computer programming learning

Learning computer programming is a challenging process. Among the current approaches for overcoming this challenge, visual programming languages (VPLs), such as Scratch, have shown very promising results for beginners. Interestingly, some higher education institutions have started to use VPLs to introduce basic programming concepts, mainly in CS1 courses. However, an important issue regarding Scratchs usage in higher education environments is that students may feel unmotivated being confronted by programming exercises that do not fulfill their individual expectations. To try and overcome this barrier, we propose CARAMBA, a Scratch extension including an exercise recommender system. Based on features, such as taste and complexity, CARAMBA is able to personalize student learning with Scratch by suitably suggesting exercises for students. An in-depth evaluation was conducted about the effects of our proposal on both the learning of basic concepts of CS1 and the overall performance of students. We adopted an equivalent pretest-posttest design with 88 college students at an Ecuadorian university. Results confirm that recommending exercises in Scratch had a positive effect on students programming learning abilities in terms of pass rates. In totality, the pass rate achieved by our proposal was over 52%, which is 8% higher than the rate achieved during a previous experience using only Scratch (without recommendation) and 21% higher than the historical results of traditional teaching (without Scratch). Furthermore, we analyzed the degree of exploitation of CARAMBA by students to portray two facts: students actually used CARAMBA and there was a significant, positive correlation between the utilization of CARAMBA and the scores obtained by the students

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Exploring student perceptions about the use of visual programming environments, their relation to student learning styles and their impact on student motivation in undergraduate introductory programming modules

My research aims to explore how students perceive the usability and enjoyment of visual/block-based programming environments (VPEs), to what extent their learning styles relate to these perceptions and finally to what extent these tools facilitate student understanding of basic programming constructs and impact their motivation to learn programming