Visual and Textual Programming Languages: A Systematic Review of the Literature

It is well documented, and has been the topic of much research, that Computer Science courses tend to have higher than average drop out rates at third level. This is a problem that needs to be addressed with urgency but also caution. The required number of Computer Science graduates is growing every year but the number of graduates is not meeting this demand and one way that this problem can be alleviated is to encourage students at an early age towards studying Computer Science courses. This paper presents a systematic literature review on the role of visual and textual programming languages when learning to program, particularly as a first programming language. The approach is systematic, in that a structured search of electronic resources has been conducted, and the results are presented and quantitatively analysed. This study will give insight into whether or not the current approaches to teaching young learners programming are viable, and examines what we can do to increase the interest and retention of these students as they progress through their education.Comment: 18 pages (including 2 bibliography pages), 3 figure

Computing as the 4th “R”: a general education approach to computing education

Computing and computation are increasingly pervading our lives, careers, and societies - a change driving interest in computing education at the secondary level. But what should define a "general education" computing course at this level? That is, what would you want every person to know, assuming they never take another computing course? We identify possible outcomes for such a course through the experience of designing and implementing a general education university course utilizing best-practice pedagogies. Though we nominally taught programming, the design of the course led students to report gaining core, transferable skills and the confidence to employ them in their future. We discuss how various aspects of the course likely contributed to these gains. Finally, we encourage the community to embrace the challenge of teaching general education computing in contrast to and in conjunction with existing curricula designed primarily to interest students in the field

App creation in schools for different curricula subjects - lesson learned

The next generation of jobs will be characterized by an increased demand for people with computational and problem solving skills. In Austria, computer science topics are underrepresented in school curricula hence teaching time for these topics is limited. From primary through secondary school, only a few opportunities exist for young students to explore programming. Furthermore, today's teachers are rarely trained in computer science, which impairs their potential to motivate students in these courses. Within the "No One Left Behind" (NOLB) project, teachers were supported to guide and assist their students in their learning processes by constructing ideas through game making. Thus, students created games that referred to different subject areas by using the programming tool Pocket Code, an app developed at Graz University of Technology (TU-Graz). This tool helps students to take control of their own education, becoming more engaged, interested, and empowered as a result. To ensure an optimal integration of the app in diverse subjects the different backgrounds (technical and non-technical) of teachers must be considered as well. First, teachers were supported to use Pocket Code in the different subjects in school within the feasibility study of the project. Observed challenges and difficulties using the app have been gathered. Second, we conducted interviews with teachers and students to underpin our onsite observations. As a result, it was possible to validate Pocket Codes' potential to be used in a diverse range of subjects. Third, we focused especially on those teachers who were not technically trained to provide them with a framework for Pocket Code units, e.g., with the help of structured lesson plans and predefined templates.Comment: 10 pages, 5 tables EduLearn 201

Novice programming environments: lowering the barriers, supporting the progression

In 2011, the author published an article that looked at the state of the art in novice programming environments. At the time, there had been an increase in the number of programming environments that were freely available for use by novice programmers, particularly children and young people. What was interesting was that they offered a relatively sophisticated set of development and support features within motivating and engaging environments, where programming could be seen as a means to a creative end, rather than an end in itself. Furthermore, these environments incorporated support for the social and collaborative aspects of learning. The article considered five environments—Scratch, Alice, Looking Glass, Greenfoot, and Flip— examining their characteristics and investigating the opportunities they might offer to educators and learners alike. It also considered the broader implications of such environments for both teaching and research. In this chapter, the author revisits the same five environments, looking at how they have changed in the intervening years. She considers their evolution in relation to changes in the field more broadly (e.g., an increased focus on “programming for all”) and reflects on the implications for teaching, as well as research and further development

Evaluating the Effects of Immersive Embodied Interaction on Cognition in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is on its advent of becoming mainstream household technology, as technologies such as head-mounted displays, trackers, and interaction devices are becoming affordable and easily available. Virtual reality (VR) has immense potential in enhancing the fields of education and training, and its power can be used to spark interest and enthusiasm among learners. It is, therefore, imperative to evaluate the risks and benefits that immersive virtual reality poses to the field of education. Research suggests that learning is an embodied process. Learning depends on grounded aspects of the body including action, perception, and interactions with the environment. This research aims to study if immersive embodiment through the means of virtual reality facilitates embodied cognition. A pedagogical VR solution which takes advantage of embodied cognition can lead to enhanced learning benefits. Towards achieving this goal, this research presents a linear continuum for immersive embodied interaction within virtual reality. This research evaluates the effects of three levels of immersive embodied interactions on cognitive thinking, presence, usability, and satisfaction among users in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Results from the presented experiments show that immersive virtual reality is greatly effective in knowledge acquisition and retention, and highly enhances user satisfaction, interest and enthusiasm. Users experience high levels of presence and are profoundly engaged in the learning activities within the immersive virtual environments. The studies presented in this research evaluate pedagogical VR software to train and motivate students in STEM education, and provide an empirical analysis comparing desktop VR (DVR), immersive VR (IVR), and immersive embodied VR (IEVR) conditions for learning. This research also proposes a fully immersive embodied interaction metaphor (IEIVR) for learning of computational concepts as a future direction, and presents the challenges faced in implementing the IEIVR metaphor due to extended periods of immersion. Results from the conducted studies help in formulating guidelines for virtual reality and education researchers working in STEM education and training, and for educators and curriculum developers seeking to improve student engagement in the STEM fields

The Role of Visual Learning in Improving Students’ High-Order Thinking Skills

Various concepts have been introduced to improve students’ analytical thinking skills based on problem based learning (PBL). This paper introduces a new concept to increase student’s analytical thinking skills based on a visual learning strategy. Such a strategy has three fundamental components: a teacher, a student, and a learning process. The role of the teacher includes monitoring the learning process by considering the most productive way to improve higher-order thinking (HOT) skills.Many studies show that students learn from courses that provide information in a visual format. We introduce a meaningful learning strategy for the classroom that promotes the presentation of information in visual formats such as images, diagrams, flowcharts and interactive simulations.  Furthermore, we compared visual and traditional learners based on their HOT skills, which were evaluated using the SWOT model. Performance analysis shows that visual leaning tools increased the students’ HOT skills. Keywords: visual learning, PBL, HOT skills