Pirate plunder: game-based computational thinking using scratch blocks

Policy makers worldwide argue that children should be taught how technology works, and that the ‘computational thinking’ skills developed through programming are useful in a wider context. This is causing an increased focus on computer science in primary and secondary education. Block-based programming tools, like Scratch, have become ubiquitous in primary education (5 to 11-years-old) throughout the UK. However, Scratch users often struggle to detect and correct ‘code smells’ (bad programming practices) such as duplicated blocks and large scripts, which can lead to programs that are difficult to understand. These ‘smells’ are caused by a lack of abstraction and decomposition in programs; skills that play a key role in computational thinking. In Scratch, repeats (loops), custom blocks (procedures) and clones (instances) can be used to correct these smells. Yet, custom blocks and clones are rarely taught to children under 11-years-old. We describe the design of a novel educational block-based programming game, Pirate Plunder, which aims to teach these skills to children aged 9-11. Players use Scratch blocks to navigate around a grid, collect items and interact with obstacles. Blocks are explained in ‘tutorials’; the player then completes a series of ‘challenges’ before attempting the next tutorial. A set of Scratch blocks, including repeats, custom blocks and clones, are introduced in a linear difficulty progression. There are two versions of Pirate Plunder; one that uses a debugging-first approach, where the player is given a program that is incomplete or incorrect, and one where each level begins with an empty program. The game design has been developed through iterative playtesting. The observations made during this process have influenced key design decisions such as Scratch integration, difficulty progression and reward system. In future, we will evaluate Pirate Plunder against a traditional Scratch curriculum and compare the debugging-first and non-debugging versions in a series of studies

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

Pengembangan Media Pembelajaran Berbasis Game Pada Mata Kuliah Kajian Kurikulum SMK Di Jurusan Informatika Universitas Negeri Surabaya

Penelitian ini mengembangkan Aplikasi Media Pembelajaran untuk membantu memberikan inovasi media atau sarana baru untuk proses pembelajaran mata kuliah Kajian Kurikulum SMK, serta diharapkan dapat membantu para peserta didik agar lebih memahami materi selama proses pembelajaran. Rumusan Masalah pada penelitian ini diantaranya : (1) Bagaimana Kelayakan Media Pembelajaran Berbasis Game pada mata kuliah Kajian Kurikulum SMK, dan (2) bagaimana Respon Mahasiswa Terhadap Media Pembelajaran Berbasis Game Pada Mata kuliah Kajian Kurikulum SMK. Dalam penelitian ini menggunakan metode waterfall. Sampel penelitian pada dalam penelitian ini adalah 30 mahasiswa Pendidikan Teknologi Informasi (PTI) yang mengikuti mata kuliah Kajian Kurikulum SMK. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu angket validasi media pembelajaran dan angket siswa terhadap media pembelajaran. Lalu, teknik analisis yang digunakan yaitu analisis kelayakan media dan respon mahasiswa. Berikut hasil yang telah didapatkan dalam penelitian ini diantaranya : (1) Hasil dari validasi media pembelajaran diperoleh 78,666%, yang berarti “Baik”, dan (2) Respon siswa terhadap media berbasis game memperoleh presentase 80,175%, yang dinyatakan “Baik” untuk pembelajaran. Kata Kunci : Aplikasi, Media Pembelajaran, Game

Learning programming at the computational thinking level via digital game-play

This paper outlines an innovative game model for learning computational thinking (CT) skills through digital game-play. We have designed a game framework where students can practice and develop their skills in CT with little or no programming knowledge. We analyze how this game supports various CT concepts and how these concepts can be mapped to programming constructs to facilitate learning introductory computer programming. Moreover, we discuss the potential benefits of our approach as a support tool to foster student motivation and abilities in problem solving. As initial evaluation, we provide some analysis of feedback from a survey response group of 25 students who have played our game as a voluntary exercise. Structured empirical evaluation will follow, and the plan for that is briefly described

Novel approaches to promoting end-user programming

End-user programming has become widespread. The increasing size of this population and the prevalence of barriers that they face has sparked the development of approaches that promote end-user programing by helping them overcome barriers and teaching them programming. Despite the fact that these approaches have done well in achieving those goals, there are still limitations. Specifically, these approaches place high expectations on the amount of prior knowledge that they should have and neglect to nurture their problem-solving skills. To fill in these gaps, our collaborators designed the approaches of Idea Garden and debugging-first. The Idea Garden approach attempts to provide problem-solving support by delivering problem-solving strategies and programming knowledge that help end-user programmers help themselves. In the debugging-first approach, which also makes use of the Idea Garden, users debug existing programs before creating their own. In this thesis we study both approaches, finding that they fulfilled their goals in circumventing those limitations. Additionally, our results inform the design of the Idea Garden in a Debugging-first environment, shed lights on enhancing both approaches, and approaches with similar goals