Introduction to Programming Using Mobile Phones and MIT App Inventor

At the beginning of each year, we ask our new undergraduate students in Computer Engineering if they have ever developed a computer program. Surprisingly, the most frequent answer is no. The few students who have attended a Computer Science training module usually have some basic programming notions; however, most of our students coming straight from high school have never programmed. This lack of basic programming skills represents a major drawback when taking programming-related courses. This is especially true for the course on Computer Organization, taught during the first semester of the first year, as one of its main objectives is to explain the processor architecture, and therefore a great part of it revolves around programming in assembly language. To tackle this lack of basic programming skills, a workshop on mobile application programming using MIT App Inventor is offered to freshmen. This workshop is highly welcomed and positively received by the students, and we believe that it has contributed to improving their performance on courses related to programming, and in particular, on the Computer Organization course

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

The role of app development and mobile computing in motivating the secondary mathematics classroom

An increasing amount of high school students are interested in developing their own mobile application. Incorporating mobile development into the classroom can increase student engagement in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In this paper I present a study done with a group of sophomore level students who created their own mathematics apps with no programming experience. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge gained and motivational appeal of secondary mathematics students taught basic state of Texas exam concepts with the use of the proposed mobile development labs. Students in this study used algebraic and geometric models to describe situations, geometric transformations, proportions, and used probability models. Students practiced the concepts and then created a mobile application related to each concept taught by their teachers. Using MIT’s Appinventor, students easily developed games by putting puzzle pieces together. An increase in confidence was observed and 43% of the students increased their benchmark score. The results of this study demonstrate that students are motivated to learn their math concepts by developing mobile apps

Computing in Education: A study of computing in education and ways to enhance students’ perceptions and understanding of computing

There is a huge demand for computing skills in industry due to computing becoming ubiquitous and essential for modern life. Yet despite this, industry struggles to find employees with suitable computing skills and similarly Further and Higher Education institutions have observed a lack of interest in their computing courses in recent years. This study looks at possible reasons for this lack of interest in computing, how computing is taught in education and ways to improve students’ perceptions and understanding of computing. It focuses around a case study of a university outreach event for secondary schools which investigated how interactive teaching methods can be used to enhance students’ perceptions and understanding of computing and to increase their computing knowledge. It includes the use of physical computing and was designed to make computing fun, motivational and relevant, and to provide examples of real-world applications. Surveys were used before and after the event to understand what students’ impressions and knowledge of computing is and to see if the event improved these. Observations were also used to see how well the students handled the event’s content and whether they appeared to enjoy and understand it. Results from the case study indicate that interactive teaching methods enhance computing education, and physical computing with electronics can enhance lessons and show the relevance of computing with examples of real-world applications, and can be fun and motivational. The case study provides teachers with example tasks and challenges they can use with their students and/or ideas around other interactive teaching methods including practical computing

Interplay of Desktop and Mobile Apps with Web Services in an Introductory Programming Course

This paper describes a case study of a second-semester introductory programming course for information systems (IS) students that combined desktop and mobile application development and consumption of existing web services. Our aim was to provide students with a holistic view of how different types of applications can be developed and combined to solve real-world problems, as the students learned the basics of programming. Students progressively built a desktop Java application with a graphical user interface for a local public transit system. It combined the use of basic algorithms, existing web services for geo-coding and mapping to illustrate a recommended route on the system. Students then ported this application to the Android platform re-using most of the code they had already developed. Along with fulfilling the traditional objectives of an introductory course, this course also demonstrated the possible interplay of stand-alone components and web services in desktop and mobile applications and kept the students motivated and engaged throughout the semester

Hour of Code”: Can It Change Students’ Attitudes Toward Programming?

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science organized by Code.org, a non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science. This study investigated the impact of the Hour of Code on students’ attitudes towards computer programming and their knowledge of programming. A sample of undergraduate students from two universities was selected to participate. Participants completed an Hour of Code tutorial as part of an undergraduate course. An electronic questionnaire was implemented in a pre-survey and post-survey format to gauge the change in student attitudes toward programming and their programming ability. The findings indicated the positive impact of the Hour of Code tutorial on students’ attitude toward programming. However, the students’ programming skills did not significantly change. The authors suggest that a deeper alignment of marketing, teaching, and content would help sustain the type of initiative exemplified by the Hour of Code

Captains at the STEM of Their Own Ship: An Examination of Underrepresented Minority Student Participation in a Self-Directed, ICT After-School Intervention

Recent studies have advocated for early adoption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in order to help a broader range of youth become creators rather than consumers of digital media, to open doors for opportunity in the lucrative technology sector, and to set them on a course for lifelong STEM/ICT learning. This study used data that was collected from a grant funded, multi-site, after-school program designed to help a group of students who are often underrepresented in ICT learn about computing through a unique instructional design for guiding students through the creation of mobile apps using a freely accessible block-based coding platform developed by MIT called App Inventor. The study employed a concurrent, triangulation mixed methods approach to data analysis. Data sources included participant-observer field notes, interviews, student artifacts, online surveys, and an assessment of outcomes related to a construct called computational thinking. The purpose of the intervention and this proposed study was to examine whether participants in the program learned coding and related concepts, developed an interest in STEM/ICT subject matter, and gained an optimistic view of their abilities related to 21st century computing skills. In addition, the researcher hoped to identify which aspects of the instructional design may have facilitated progress towards these goals

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

Mobile App Design for Teaching and Learning: Educators’ Experiences in an Online Graduate Course

This research explored how educators with limited programming experiences learned to design mobile apps through peer support and instructor guidance. Educators were positive about the sense of community in this online course. They also considered App Inventor a great web-based visual programming tool for developing useful and fully functioning mobile apps. They had great sense of empowerment through developing unique apps by using App Inventor. They felt their own design work and creative problem solving were inspired by the customized mobile apps shared by peers. The learning activities, including sharing customized apps, providing peer feedback, composing design proposals, and keeping design journals (blogging), complemented each other to support a positive sense of community and form a strong virtual community of learning mobile app design. This study helped reveal the educational value of mobile app design activities and the web-based visual programming tool, and the possibility of teaching/learning mobile app design online. The findings can also encourage educators to explore and experiment on the potential of incorporating these design learning activities in their respective settings, and to develop mobile apps for their diverse needs in teaching and learning

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