Teaching Computational Thinking to 8-Year-Olds through ScratchJr

Faber, Hylke; Ven, Jan Salvador van der; Wierdsma, Menno

doi:10.1145/3059009.3072986

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Another narration strategy was adopted by Faber, Ven, and Wierdsma (2017). Students first created a pen-andpaper model of their story, consisting of drawings indicating what happens in the story.…”

Section: Creating a Story And Narrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting Second Graders’ Robotics with an Understand/Use-Modify-Create (U<sup>2</sup>MC) Strategy

Baek

Wang

Yang

et al. 2019

European Journal of STEM Education

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This study, a sub-study of a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research project, applies a modified strategy of the U 2 MC for an eight-week afterschool robotics curriculum to promote upper elementary students' computational thinking in the second grade. Twenty-one students in second grade participated in a Life on Mars project which lasted for ten days with one class hour per day. They participated in activities learning coding concepts, basics of robotics, as well as exploring life on Mars. Most notably, the study found a significant increase in participants' computational thinking skills. In addition, participants came to understand basic robotics, including operation, composites, and codes. Implications for future research and robotics curriculum design are discussed in the presentation.

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Section: Creating a Story And Narrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting Second Graders’ Robotics with an Understand/Use-Modify-Create (U<sup>2</sup>MC) Strategy

Baek

Wang

Yang

et al. 2019

European Journal of STEM Education

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“…Although originally used as an outreach tool for experts visiting schools, where the time and resources weren't available to engage students with programming on a computer, it has since become popular for use in the classroom (Bell, Rosamond & Casey, 2012;Bell & Vahrenhold, 2018). Teachers around the world have been expected increasingly to introduce their students to elements of Computational Thinking (Yadav, Hong & Stephenson, 2016), and the unplugged approach has been an easy starting point because it uses familiar materials, and avoids the challenges of working with digital devices (Faber et al, 2017;Falkner et al 2019). However, this can lead to an "unplugged only" approach, which can lead students to miss the connection to digital devices (Feaster et al, 2011;Taub, Armoni & Ben-Ari, 2012;Wohl, Porter & Clinch, 2015), and miss out on experiencing the power of programming.…”

Section: Unplugged Activities and Computational Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unplugged activities as a catalyst when teaching introductory programming

Munasinghe

Bell

Robins

2023

JPR

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An unplugged approach to teaching enables students to explore Computational Thinking without using a computer. It might appear that if students are to learn programming, they should focus on computerbased work; however, it appears that using "unplugged" activities before engaging in computer-based coding (programming) activities for each unit of work leads to better outcomes for students in the same amount of time. In this paper we explore why this could be the case, by reviewing literature that reports on these experiences, and also using different theoretical lenses (Notional Machines, Semantic Profiles, and the Zone of Proximal Development) to analyse how the combination of experiences can engage students. We also explore how the approach integrates with mathematics education.

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“…Det tredje argumentet, det pedagogiska, betonar att programmering i förskolan inte är ett fristående ämne, utan ett verktyg som kan användas för att utveckla generiska kunskaper såsom att träna barn i problemlösning och logiskt eller så kallat datalogiskt tänkande (Heikkilä, 2019). Det finns åtskilliga tolkningar av detta flitigt använda begrepp som också benämns som computational thinking (Faber et al, 2017;Heintz et al, 2016;Lodi & Martini, 2021). Papert (1980) var den förste att använda detta centrala begrepp (Heintz et al, 2016;Howland et al, 2019), även om det var Wing (2006) som genom sina texter såg till att termen fick vid spridning (Heikkilä & Mannila, 2018) I studie I var målsättningen att få en generell bild av hur lärare i förskolan arbetar med datorplattor för att stödja barns lärande, både ur ett allmändidaktiskt och ämnesdidaktiskt perspektiv.…”

Section: Argument För Programmering I Förskolanunclassified

Det bästa av två världar : Förskollärares arbete med digitala och analoga resurser i förskolans STEM-undervisning

Otterborn

2023

Studies in Science and Technology Education

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This thesis investigates how experienced preschool teachers integrate digital and analog tools in their teaching. The thesis focuses on so-called STEM teaching, where the subject areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics make up the content of integration. The thesis results are based on four studies where empirical material was generated from online surveys, interviews, and documentation of STEM teaching where preschool teachers used digital tools. Article I reports an online survey study that aimed to describe how digital tablets are used to support preschool learning both in general, and with a particular focus on technology education. In Article II, which is a follow up of article I, preschool teachers' implementation of programming activities in their pedagogical practice is investigated using an additional online survey. Article III, which is based on semi-structured interviews, presents a study on how experienced preschool teachers integrate digital tools when teaching science. In Article IV, the results from Study III are deepened through recall interviews and analyses of collected documentation of science activities. The overall results of the thesis show that preschool teachers handle the task of digitalizing preschool teaching by combining digital and analog tools to offer innovative and multidimensional teaching, where the curriculum's fundamental values are in focus. For example, children's perspectives, interests, and agency are brought to the fore by combining digital and analog tools to complement different ways of learning. Preschool teachers see analog resources as fundamental and digital tools as supplementary and reinforcing. In preschool science education, digital tools are purposefully used to expand an already multidimensional teaching and to offer different paths for creative explorations. New activities, such as programming, have also been introduced into practice using digital tools and are often described by teachers as a didactic tool for general education. The community of practice within which these committed teachers work is significant for how, and whether, digitalization initiatives are implemented. This is since routines and prevailing epistemological beliefs within the teachers' working community influence what becomes possible to implement. The results of the thesis demonstrate how digitalized teaching can be used to push the boundaries vii of an already established multidimensional pedagogical practice within STEM when teachers have the knowledge, resources, and intentions for meaningful implementation.

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Teaching Computational Thinking to 8-Year-Olds through ScratchJr

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

Revisiting Second Graders’ Robotics with an Understand/Use-Modify-Create (U<sup>2</sup>MC) Strategy

Revisiting Second Graders’ Robotics with an Understand/Use-Modify-Create (U<sup>2</sup>MC) Strategy

Unplugged activities as a catalyst when teaching introductory programming

Det bästa av två världar : Förskollärares arbete med digitala och analoga resurser i förskolans STEM-undervisning

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