Exploring perceived cognitive load in learning programming via Scratch

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived cognitive load and its effects on the academic performance in Scratch-based programming. The four main concepts of programming (sequences, operators, conditions and loop) were delivered in the instructional package. Participants were 12 sixth-grade students enrolled at a public secondary school. The results from quantitative and qualitative instruments indicated that students' perceived cognitive loads were close to each other among four programming concepts. The attractive interface of Scratch was somewhat useful but some parts of the interface were problematic for achieving the programming tasks. This study concludes with suggestions for Scratch practitioners and researchers to pay attention to the sources of cognitive load effects.

Exploring relationships among students' computational thinking skills, emotions, and cognitive load using simulation games in primary education

“…A potential explanation comes from the use of avatars, when participants practice their solution plans by experiencing the illusion of being in a 3D plausible “world”, in which they could move, touch, and act freely without spatiotemporal constraints, supporting the perception of manipulating and programming without restrictions for certain in‐game elements (i.e., the virtual robot) with Scratch4SL. In contrast to Çakiroğlu et al (2018), the highest cognitive load level in programming was provided when the EG used more sequences in coding, but the lowest was observed in using loops based on Dr. Scratch items extraction. Although the proposed 3D SG had visual interactive elements with higher visual fidelity and better graphics than this on Scratch, reflecting on the increased students' emotional engagement and active participation, there was no significant interaction between negative emotions and two instructional approaches.…”

“…Review of the relevant literature has shown that most positive effects to eliminate students' cognitive load in programming courses using interactive and multimedia environments can be summarised as follows: (a) the highest cognitive load level was recorded in the sequences concept and the lowest perceived cognitive load was observed in the loop concept using visual code blocks using Scratch (Çakiroğlu et al, 2018), (b) the decrease of extraneous and intrinsic cognitive load are factors influencing significantly students' interaction and collaboration to produce better learning outcomes due to instructional videos, adaptive challenges, and immediate learning aids in digital games (Liao et al, 2019), (c) the lowest students' cognitive load and mental effort was achieved by using interactive elements in digital game‐based contexts with the basic notions of human visual perception in the design of the visualisation to improve the efficiency of visual searches as well (Cho et al, 2022), (d) different levels of interaction amongst visual elements in various problem‐solving contexts can improve different solutions of students to reveal the necessary interactions as important factors influencing the intrinsic cognitive load in terms of semantic knowledge (Çakiroğlu & Bilgi, 2022), and (e) contrasting cases using instances with different elements and concepts of interaction can become more effective for improving students' learning outcomes, especially for novices compared with the single cases approach in learning to programme and mitigate their extraneous cognitive load (Ma et al, 2023).…”

Educational Challenges for Computational Thinking in K–12 Education: A Systematic Literature Review of “Scratch” as an Innovative Programming Tool

“…Finding the fastest path requires understanding the logic of the algorithm well. Çakıro glu et al [46] concurred with Hagge [43] and stated that "researchers believe students should acquire procedural, conditional, and analogical thinking skills in the programming process, which will allow students to assess the thought process of the problem as well". The second commonality we discovered among the studies concerned the social dynamic that Scratch provides.…”

A Comparative Case Study to Experiences of High School Students Using Text-Based versus Hybrid-Based Environments in Programming Education

“…To reduce the mental effort, it is suggested that comprehensive content is divided the pieces, and complex tasks are presented from easy to difficult week by week. Thus, knowledge retention increases in longterm memory (Çakiroğlu et al, 2018;Mavilidi & Zhong, 2019). In addition, mentioned factors above may cause the learning process to continue with negative feelings such as boredom, low interest, high anxiety, lack of self-confidence, reluctance toward learning a programming language, and even interrupting it (Chang, 2005;Gomes & Mendes, 2007;Hsu & Hwang, 2021;Owolabi, Olanipekun, & Iwerima, 2014;Tsai, 2019).…”