Engaging Primary School Children in Computational Thinking: Designing and Developing Videogames
Abstract This paper presents the results of a project on Computational Thinking education for primary school pupils. During the project – called Computational Thinking for children education – 81 students from a primary school in Italy have been guided to the design and development of computer games through the Microsoft Kodu game development platform. Different activities have been proposed to the pupils with the aim of promoting Computational Thinking abilities and skills. A narrative approach has been adopted throughout the project. Preliminary results of the educational experience highlight as the adoption of narrative learning and physical reproduction of manipulative programming objects provide an affordance for the development of Computational Thinking abilities. Furthermore, constancy during the learning process affects the acquisition of game development skills; finally, the design and implementation of computer games using Kodu have had a significant positive influence on the perception of computer programming.
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Akinola, O. S., Akinkunmi, B. O., & Alo, T. S. (2012). A Data Mining Model for Predicting Computer Programming Proficiency of Computer Science Undergraduate Students. African Journal of Computing & ICT, 5(1), 43-52.
Barr, V., & Stephenson, C. (2011). Bringing computational thinking to K-12: What is involved and what is the role of the computer science education community? ACM Inroads, 2(1), 48-54. https://doi.org/10.1145/1929887.1929905
Bau, D., Gray, J., Kelleher, C., Sheldon, J., & Turbak, F. (2017). Learnable programming: blocks and beyond. Communications of the ACM, 60(6), 72-80. https://doi.org/10.1145/3015455
Becker, G., & Tomes, N. (1986). Human capital and the rise and fall of families. Journal of Labor economics, 4(3), S1-S39. https://doi.org/10.1086/298118
Chiazzese, G., & Laganà, M. R. (2011). Online learning with virtual puppetry. Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society 7(3), 121-129. https://doi.org/10.20368/1971-8829/557
Chiazzese, G., Cafari, A. M., Taibi, D., & Fulantelli, G. (2015). EduCodeGame - Risolvere problemi di matematica con Kodu: uno studio Pilota. Proceedings of Teach Different! EMEMITALIA conference.
Code. (2017). Hour of Code website. Retrieved 26 April 2018 from http://code.org/learn
De Beni, R., & Gruppo MT. (1995). “Q1 ELEMENTARI” - Prove per la compilazione del profilo iniziale del nuovo documento di valutazione. Organizzazioni Speciali.
Fowler, A., Fristce, T., & MacLauren, M. (2012). Kodu game lab: A programming environment. The computer Games Journal 1(1), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392325
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García-Peñalvo, F. J., & Mendes, J. A. (2018). Exploring the computational thinking effects in preuniversity education. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 407-411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.12.005
Harms, K. J., Balzuweit, E., Chen, J., & Kelleher, C. (2016). Learning programming from tutorials and code puzzles: Children’s perceptions of value. In Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC) (pp. 59-67). USA: IEEE. http://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2016.7739665
Haveman, R., & Wolfe, B. (1995). The determinants of children’s attainments: a review of methods and findings. Journal of Economic Literature 33(4), 1829–1878.
IWG, (2010). Computational Thinking for Youth, Education Development Center, Inc. Newton, MA.
Lye, S. Y., & Koh, J. H. L. (2014). Review on teaching and learning of computational thinking through programming. Computer Human Behaviour. 41, 51-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.09.012
Master, A., Cheryan, S., Moscatelli, A., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2017). Programming experience promotes higher STEM motivation among first-grade girls. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 160, 92-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.03.013
Perkovi, L., Settle, A., Hwang, S. and Jones, J. (2010). A Framework for Computational Thinking across the Curriculum. In Proceedings of the 2010 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, (pp. 123-127). https://doi.org/10.1145/1822090.1822126
Pinto-Llorente, A. M., Casillas-Martín, S., Cabezas-González, M., & García-Peñalvo, F. J. (2018). Building, coding and programming 3D models via a visual programming environment. Quality & Quantity, In Press https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0509-4.
Repenning, A., Basawapatna, A. R., & Escherle, N. A. (2017). Principles of Computational Thinking Tools. In P. Rich, & C. Hodges (Eds.), Proceedings of Emerging Research, Practice, and Policy on Computational Thinking (pp. 291-305). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52691-1_18
Resnick, M., Maloney, J., Monroy-Hernández, A., Rusk, N., Eastmond, E., Brennan, K., Millner, A., Rosenbaum, E., Silver, J., Silverman, B., & Kafai, Y. (2009). Scratch: programming for all. Communications of the ACM 52(11), 60-67. https://doi.org/10.1145/1592761.1592779
Schnepf, S. V. (2007). Immigrants’ educational disadvantage: an examination across ten countries and three surveys. Journal of Population Economics, 20(3), 527-545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-006-0102-y
Sirin, S. (2005). Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research. Review of Educational Research, 75(3), 417-453. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543075003417
Szurmak, J., & Mindy, T. (2013). Tell me a story: The use of narrative as a tool for instruction. In Imagine, Innovate, Inspire: The Proceedings of the ACRL 2013 Conference (pp. 546-552). Indianapolis, IN, USA: ACRL.
Touretzky, D. S. (2014). Teaching Kodu with physical manipulatives. ACM Inroads 5(4), 44-51. https://doi.org/10.1145/2684721.2684732
Touretzky, D. S., Marghitu, D., Ludi, S., Bernstein, D., & Ni, L. (2013). Accelerating K-12 computational thinking using scaffolding, staging, and abstraction. In Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education, SIGCSE ‘13 (Denver, Colorado, USA — March 06 - 09, 2013) (pp. 609-614). USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2445196.2445374
Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33-35. https://doi.org/10.1145/1118178.1118215
Wing, J. M. (2008). Computational thinking and thinking about computing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society a-Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences, 366(1881), 3717-3725.
Xia, N. (2010). Family factors and student outcomes. Ph.D. Dissertation. Pardee RAND Graduate School, Santa Monica, CA. Retrieved 26 April 2018 from https://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD256.html
Barr, V., & Stephenson, C. (2011). Bringing computational thinking to K-12: What is involved and what is the role of the computer science education community? ACM Inroads, 2(1), 48-54. https://doi.org/10.1145/1929887.1929905
Bau, D., Gray, J., Kelleher, C., Sheldon, J., & Turbak, F. (2017). Learnable programming: blocks and beyond. Communications of the ACM, 60(6), 72-80. https://doi.org/10.1145/3015455
Becker, G., & Tomes, N. (1986). Human capital and the rise and fall of families. Journal of Labor economics, 4(3), S1-S39. https://doi.org/10.1086/298118
Chiazzese, G., & Laganà, M. R. (2011). Online learning with virtual puppetry. Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society 7(3), 121-129. https://doi.org/10.20368/1971-8829/557
Chiazzese, G., Cafari, A. M., Taibi, D., & Fulantelli, G. (2015). EduCodeGame - Risolvere problemi di matematica con Kodu: uno studio Pilota. Proceedings of Teach Different! EMEMITALIA conference.
Code. (2017). Hour of Code website. Retrieved 26 April 2018 from http://code.org/learn
De Beni, R., & Gruppo MT. (1995). “Q1 ELEMENTARI” - Prove per la compilazione del profilo iniziale del nuovo documento di valutazione. Organizzazioni Speciali.
Fowler, A., Fristce, T., & MacLauren, M. (2012). Kodu game lab: A programming environment. The computer Games Journal 1(1), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392325
García-Peñalvo, F. J. (2016). What computational thinking is. Journal of Information Technology Research, 9(3), v-viii.
García-Peñalvo, F. J., Reimann, S., Tuul, M., Rees, A., & Jormanainen, I. (2016). An overview of the most relevant literature on coding and computational thinking with emphasis on the relevant issues for teachers. Belgium: TACCLE3 Consortium. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.165123
García-Peñalvo, F. J., & Mendes, J. A. (2018). Exploring the computational thinking effects in preuniversity education. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 407-411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.12.005
Harms, K. J., Balzuweit, E., Chen, J., & Kelleher, C. (2016). Learning programming from tutorials and code puzzles: Children’s perceptions of value. In Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC) (pp. 59-67). USA: IEEE. http://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2016.7739665
Haveman, R., & Wolfe, B. (1995). The determinants of children’s attainments: a review of methods and findings. Journal of Economic Literature 33(4), 1829–1878.
IWG, (2010). Computational Thinking for Youth, Education Development Center, Inc. Newton, MA.
Lye, S. Y., & Koh, J. H. L. (2014). Review on teaching and learning of computational thinking through programming. Computer Human Behaviour. 41, 51-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.09.012
Master, A., Cheryan, S., Moscatelli, A., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2017). Programming experience promotes higher STEM motivation among first-grade girls. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 160, 92-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.03.013
Perkovi, L., Settle, A., Hwang, S. and Jones, J. (2010). A Framework for Computational Thinking across the Curriculum. In Proceedings of the 2010 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, (pp. 123-127). https://doi.org/10.1145/1822090.1822126
Pinto-Llorente, A. M., Casillas-Martín, S., Cabezas-González, M., & García-Peñalvo, F. J. (2018). Building, coding and programming 3D models via a visual programming environment. Quality & Quantity, In Press https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0509-4.
Repenning, A., Basawapatna, A. R., & Escherle, N. A. (2017). Principles of Computational Thinking Tools. In P. Rich, & C. Hodges (Eds.), Proceedings of Emerging Research, Practice, and Policy on Computational Thinking (pp. 291-305). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52691-1_18
Resnick, M., Maloney, J., Monroy-Hernández, A., Rusk, N., Eastmond, E., Brennan, K., Millner, A., Rosenbaum, E., Silver, J., Silverman, B., & Kafai, Y. (2009). Scratch: programming for all. Communications of the ACM 52(11), 60-67. https://doi.org/10.1145/1592761.1592779
Schnepf, S. V. (2007). Immigrants’ educational disadvantage: an examination across ten countries and three surveys. Journal of Population Economics, 20(3), 527-545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-006-0102-y
Sirin, S. (2005). Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research. Review of Educational Research, 75(3), 417-453. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543075003417
Szurmak, J., & Mindy, T. (2013). Tell me a story: The use of narrative as a tool for instruction. In Imagine, Innovate, Inspire: The Proceedings of the ACRL 2013 Conference (pp. 546-552). Indianapolis, IN, USA: ACRL.
Touretzky, D. S. (2014). Teaching Kodu with physical manipulatives. ACM Inroads 5(4), 44-51. https://doi.org/10.1145/2684721.2684732
Touretzky, D. S., Marghitu, D., Ludi, S., Bernstein, D., & Ni, L. (2013). Accelerating K-12 computational thinking using scaffolding, staging, and abstraction. In Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education, SIGCSE ‘13 (Denver, Colorado, USA — March 06 - 09, 2013) (pp. 609-614). USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2445196.2445374
Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33-35. https://doi.org/10.1145/1118178.1118215
Wing, J. M. (2008). Computational thinking and thinking about computing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society a-Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences, 366(1881), 3717-3725.
Xia, N. (2010). Family factors and student outcomes. Ph.D. Dissertation. Pardee RAND Graduate School, Santa Monica, CA. Retrieved 26 April 2018 from https://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD256.html
Chiazzese, G., Fulantelli, G., Pipitone, V., & Taibi, D. (2018). Engaging Primary School Children in Computational Thinking: Designing and Developing Videogames. Education in The Knowledge Society, 19(2), 63–81. https://doi.org/10.14201/eks20181926381
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