The use of mobile technologies and robotics to teach programming at all educational levels

Παρότι διεθνώς ο προγραμματισμός θεωρείται ως ο νέος γραμματισμός, η διδασκαλία του σε όλες τις εκπαιδευτικές βαθμίδες παρουσιάζει αρκετά προβλήματα τα οποία σχετίζονται τόσο με την φύση του μαθήματος όσο και με τον τρόπο διδασκαλίας του. Απόρροια τούτου είναι το γεγονός ότι αφενός οι μαθητές θεωρούν τον προγραμματισμό ως ένα δύσκολο και βαρετό μάθημα, αφετέρου όταν τους δίδεται η δυνατότητα είτε δεν επιλέγουν μαθήματα πληροφορικής είτε στην περίπτωση επιλογής τους παρουσιάζουν ιδιαίτερα υψηλά ποσοστά αποχωρήσεων. Στην παρούσα εργασία παρουσιάζεται ένα διδακτικό σενάριο το οποίο προσπαθεί να κεντρίσει το ενδιαφέρον των μαθητών για τον προγραμματισμό και τις συναφείς του έννοιες. Το συγκεκριμένο σενάριο είναι ελεύθερα διαθέσιμο τόσο στην Πλατφόρμα «Αίσωπος» στη διεύθυνση http://aesop.iep.edu.gr/node/11425/2723 όσο και στον εθνικό συσσωρευτή εκπαιδευτικού περιεχομένου με την ονομασία «Φωτόδεντρο» στην διεύθυνση http://photodentro.edu.gr/aggregator/lo/photodentro-aggregatedcontent8526-8403. Το σενάριο έχει χαρακτηριστεί ως «Βέλτιστο», ύστερα από αξιολόγηση που πραγματοποιήθηκε από δύο ανεξάρτητους αξιολογητές έπειτα από σχετική πρόσκληση του Ινστιτούτου Εκπαιδευτικής Πολιτικής (ΙΕΠ). Το διδακτικό σενάριο διδάσκει στους μαθητές τις βασικές προγραμματιστικές δομές συνδυάζοντας ένα εργαλείο καθημερινής χρήσης των μαθητών-μαθητριών όπως είναι το έξυπνο κινητό τους τηλέφωνο με δραστηριότητες οι οποίες έχει αποδειχτεί ότι προσελκύουν το ενδιαφέρον τους όπως είναι η αξιοποίηση ρομποτικών κατασκευών.Although programming is seen as one of the keys to raising standards for the next generation, its teaching and learning at all levels of education presents several problems that are related both to the nature of the lesson and the way it is taught in a classroom. As a consequence of this, students regard programming as one of the most difficult components of the curriculum. In this paper, we present a teaching scenario that attempts to stimulate students' interest in basic programming concepts learning. In this scenario, we combine a tool that students use on a daily basis such as their smart mobile devices with activities that have been proven to attract students interest such as the use of robotics

Tools to develop end-user programming skills from primary school to higher education

Some years ago at the MIDK2013 Conference [16] we presented a concept regarding the use of a new generation of computer programming novice languages (in fact, an environment, called ‘block languages’). We showed how we imagine the use of this kind of language for different ages and at different levels of education. Now we would like to present the results of our projects related to this concept and our psychological and pedagogical experiences. Furthermore we would like to present further tools to develop end-user programming skills from primary school to higher education

Intervenções pedagógicas para o desenvolvimento do Pensamento Computacional com auxílio da Robótica Educativa: uma revisão sistemática

The development of Computational Thinking (CT) skills in educational institutions is currently a concern in several countries. Admittedly, the concept has developed that the ability to think like a Computer Scientist has educational benefits – capacity for reflection, problem solving and the understanding that everything around us is intrinsically linked to digital technology – and economic benefits with trained professionals. The objective of this systematic review of research (SRR) was to identify which pedagogical interventions have been used in the development of the CT with the help of Educational Robotics (ER) using ER Kits LEGO Mindstorm together with students of the equivalent of elementary school and high school, with the objective of constituting bases that allow the elaboration of a pedagogical intervention in a vocational high school, whose students are at these educational levels. Although the researches are promising in the use of ER for the development of CT, there are still gaps to be explored, since none of the researches addresses students of professional education. Recent research carried out in the area of ​​Information Technology (IT) shows that in a period of five years approximately 800 thousand new opportunities will be created in the area, however, in Brazil, just over 53 thousand technology professionals are trained per year. This finding emerges from a discussion about the fact that the development of the CT is essential in the training of IT professionals, which is in increasing demand in our society.O desenvolvimento das habilidades do Pensamento Computacional (PC) nas instituições de ensino é, atualmente, uma preocupação em diversos países. Reconhecidamente se desenvolve a concepção de que a habilidade em se pensar como um cientista da Computação possui benefícios educacionais – capacidade de reflexão, resolução de problemas e o entendimento de que tudo ao nosso redor esta intrinsicamente ligado a tecnologia digital – e econômicos com profissionais capacitados. O objetivo desta Revisão Sistemática de Literatura (RSL) foi o de identificar quais intervenções pedagógicas vem sendo utilizadas no desenvolvimento do PC com o auxílio da Robótica Educativa (RE) utilizando Kits RE LEGO Mindstorm junto a discentes do equivalente ao Ensino Fundamental II e Ensino Médio, com objetivo de constituir bases que permitam elaborar uma intervenção pedagógica em uma escola de ensino médio integrado ao ensino profissional, cujos estudantes estão nestes níveis educacionais. Embora as pesquisas sejam promissoras no uso da RE para o desenvolvimento do PC, ainda existem lacunas a serem exploradas, visto que nenhuma das pesquisas aborda discentes da educação profissional. Recentes pesquisas realizadas na área da Tecnologia da Informação (TI) nos trazem que em um período de cinco anos serão criadas aproximadamente 800 mil novas oportunidades na área, entretanto, no Brasil, formam-se pouco mais de 53 mil profissionais de tecnologia por ano. Tal constatação emerge discussão acerca de que o desenvolvimento do PC é imprescindível na formação de profissionais de TI demanda cada vez maior em nossa sociedade

Pengembangan Aplikasi Android Menggunakan Integrated Development Environment (Ide) App Inventor-2

Many Integrated Development Environment (IDE) can be used to create Android Apps. Android Studio with Java programming language is an IDE and native programming language that is officially supported by Google. As a supported IDE, AS becomes the best IDE that can be used to build apps. Nevertheless, many novice programmers find it difficult to get started especially by starting a new programming concept for mobile devices. Android Studio is also known as an IDE that requires a high specs computer requirement and also has sophisticated features. This research purposed to develop applications with IDEs that are more user-friendly and more emphasize the big concept of programming without much difficulty regarding compiling the program code and also the complexity of IDE as well as Android Studio. The IDE used in this study is App Inventor 2 (AI2), a cloud-based IDE managed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The next goal is to test the capabilities of the application by conducting Blackbox Testing and User Testing. In this research has been developed an app called Receptionist that is used to test the ability of the codes generated by AI2. The results show that AI2 can be used to build complex applications such as Text Message Service (SMS) broadcasting, performing local database queries and retrieving data on the server. However, some features such as database processing should run in the background still run on the UI thread, thereby reducing the user experience when Application Not Responding (ANR) occurs.Keywords: App Inventor 2, Android Application, Cloud Programming, visual programmin

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

Pengembangan Game Molemash di Android Menggunakan Metode Rapid Application Development

As we know the game is one of the interesting applications found in gadgets. Many people who play games use their gadgets. The fans of this game come from various age segments. Although the majority is dominated by children and adolescents. Molemash is one of the popular games since time immemorial. This Molemash game is played by touching certain characters that appear on the gadget's screen. The aim of developing this Molemash game is as a media to entertain children during the Covid-19 pandemic. Another goal is to introduce programming to today's parents. The development method used is Rapid Application Development (RAD). One application that supports the RAD method is MIT App Inventor 2. MIT App Inventor 2 is one of the tools that supports the RAD method because it implements block programming so that it allows efficiency in terms of program lines that must be written. One block at MIT App Inventor 2 represents dozens or even hundreds of program lines. Users only need to arrange the blocks according to the desired logic flow. Therefore MIT App Inventor 2 is suitable for rapid software development. The result of developing this Molemash game is that children get alternative entertainment during the Covid-19 pandemic. Whereas in terms of parents get new knowledge related to game development on Android

Gamification and Coding to Engage Primary School Students in Learning Mathematics: A Case Study

This paper describes a pilot educational project made in a Primary School in Italy (Scuola Primaria Alessandro Manzoni at Mulazzano, Milan) implemented in 2016 and 2017. The project was born from a specific request: the school aimed at improving the results achieved by students aged 7 during the National Tests for Mathematics since they registered performances lower than the National Average. In this context, we supported teachers providing information tools and methods to improve performances. Our aim was to develop new game-oriented approaches to problem-solving, mixing our different experiences and competences (organization design, information technologies, psychology). We provided a broader spectrum of parameters tools and keys to understand how to achieve an inclusive approach personalized on students, involving them and their teachers in the project. This cooperative approach allowed us to collect interesting observations about learning styles, pointing out the negative impact that standardized processes and instruments can have on self-esteem and consequently on the performance of pupils. We argue that addressing pupils in considering mathematics as continuous research and development can increase their performances in National Tests execution. Children free to realize their own experiments and observations dramatically improve their involvement and curiosity about Mathematics

Computational Thinking in Education: Where does it fit? A systematic literary review

Computational Thinking (CT) has been described as an essential skill which everyone should learn and can therefore include in their skill set. Seymour Papert is credited as concretising Computational Thinking in 1980 but since Wing popularised the term in 2006 and brought it to the international community's attention, more and more research has been conducted on CT in education. The aim of this systematic literary review is to give educators and education researchers an overview of what work has been carried out in the domain, as well as potential gaps and opportunities that still exist. Overall it was found in this review that, although there is a lot of work currently being done around the world in many different educational contexts, the work relating to CT is still in its infancy. Along with the need to create an agreed-upon definition of CT lots of countries are still in the process of, or have not yet started, introducing CT into curriculums in all levels of education. It was also found that Computer Science/Computing, which could be the most obvious place to teach CT, has yet to become a mainstream subject in some countries, although this is improving. Of encouragement to educators is the wealth of tools and resources being developed to help teach CT as well as more and more work relating to curriculum development. For those teachers looking to incorporate CT into their schools or classes then there are bountiful options which include programming, hands-on exercises and more. The need for more detailed lesson plans and curriculum structure however, is something that could be of benefit to teachers

Learners Acceptance of u-KIT EDU as an Educational Application for Robot Building, Coding, and Controlling

Humans tend to always look for convenience, including choosing applications to learn robot programming. uKIT EDU is an educational application for robot building, coding and controlling. This study aims to analyze new learners' level of acceptance towards it. This research was designed quantitatively by involving 116 respondents. A questionnaire based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was organized with 4 observed variables, including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude and behavioral intention to use. The Mann-Whitney U statistical test was carried out in this study to compare two independent samples, male and female learners. Moreover, the Kruskal-Wallis H statistical test was carried out to compare three or more independent samples based on age generations and occupations. From all the statistical tests conducted, it was found that there was no significant difference in the acceptance of uKIT EDU from each sample based on gender, age generations and occupation. They agreed that the app was useful and easy to be used to learn robotics, coding and controlling. Briefly, this study revealed that uKIT EDU is suitable for new learners and can be used as a reference for any schools, educational institutions, and parents of students interested in starting to learn robotics