Evaluating the Use of Remixing in Scratch Projects Based on Repertoire, Lines of Code (LOC), and Elementary Patterns

Abstract

This Full Paper in the Research Category evaluates the use of remixing in Scratch. A feature of the Scratch programming environment is that it supports students to share their code and "remix" (modify) other students' code. Remixing in Scratch has garnered much attention by the research community as use of collaboration for learning was one of the main ideas behind Scratch. It can provide opportunities to read others' code, learn how features can be implemented using the Scratch language, and contribute to the program. It can also prevent students from engaging with the code if they copy an existing program that does what they are trying to do without needing modification. The literature shows mixed results regarding use of remixes in Scratch. We have investigated at a large scale what happens in practice by analysing thousands of student programs shared through the Scratch online repository. As well as replicating prior work on a larger scale to show the impact of remixing on learning programming skills through Lines of Code (LOC) and repertoire of block usage, we also measure the use of elementary patterns (common combinations of commands). We track the progress of each project through its remixes and compare the results between the root version and the final version.

Analysis of Progression of Scratch Users based on their Use of Elementary Patterns

“…However, we have observed that often the modifications are not around learning programming (such as changing a backdrop or sprite), and in some cases almost no modification is made at all [20]. Since, we are working with all projects for each user in our sample, the remixed projects will not have a big impact on the results reported here as the remixing percentage is usually between 0-25% [21].…”

Computação Criativa Online: relato de experiência da adaptação de uma oficina de desenvolvimento do Pensamento Computacional para crianças

“…Cada participante pode se inspirar na atividade da oficina que mais gostou para construir um novo programa, a ser apresentado para os colegas e as monitoras no último encontro. Como cada participante pode definir o tema e as funcionalidades, espera-se que a complexidade do código produzido reflita, de alguma forma, o entendimento dos conteúdos apresentados e a segurança do participante em modificar (ou remixar [1,9]) o código com o qual já teve contato prévio. Considerando, ainda, que não é esperada a produção de código muito complexo, optou-se por fazer uma contagem simples da quantidade de estruturas de programação presentes no código dos participantes em cada uma das categorias: blocos de movimentação; estruturas condicionais, de repetição e eventos; definição e uso de variáveis, impressão de frases na tela, impressão e modificação de sprites, e modificação visual, que engloba comandos relacionados a definição de cores, tamanhos e trajes de sprites, planos de fundo, adesivos e largura de traços.…”

Pinpoint: A Record, Replay, and Extract System to Support Code Comprehension and Reuse

“…A large portion of Scratch projects are remixed projects [28], but as many projects are relatively complex to remix [22], remixers may not always learn from reuse. Amanullah and Bell found that remixers rarely understand the original program, and rarely transfer concepts from the remixed program to their own future programs [2]. Khawas et al also found that the remixers rarely used cloning correctly or included new procedures [22].…”