The Effectiveness of an Unplugged Coding Education System that Enables Coding Education without Computers

Abstract

An unplugged block coding system that can be used to code without a computer was developed in 2014 with the support of the Korea Research Foundation. This unplugged block coding system is a type of tangible programming that can be used to code by combining unplugged blocks that contain a small board or sensor mounted in the block of a flowchart's command symbol. In this study, we set the dependent variables as computational thinking skill and interest in software education, and we attempted to verify the effectiveness of the unplugged block coding system. The study method was a nonequivalent pre-test-post-test experimental design. During the course of the study, the experimental group and the comparison group performed programming activities to control the movement of a car the groups had in common. In the experimental group, we conducted the tangible programming activity, which controls the movement of the car by using the unplugged block coding system. The comparison group used Educational Programming Language programming activities to control the motion of the car using Scratch 2.0. As a result, it was confirmed that the experimental group showed a significant improvement in computational thinking skill and interest in Software education compared to the comparison group.

The effect of an unplugged coding course on primary school students' improvement in their computational thinking skills

“…In addition, there was no statistically significant difference found between the students' posttest mean scores and their follow-up test mean scores. This finding shows that the unplugged coding course, which is based on learning outcomes of a national ICT curriculum, had a significant effect on the primary school students' CT skills, and is also consistent with other studies that have shown that unplugged (or plugged) CT courses can positively contribute to the primary school students' CT skills (Park, 2019;Saxena et al, 2020;Song, 2019;Tran, 2019). Furthermore, it is pointed out that the use of unplugged activities is more beneficial for novice students' CT skills in terms of learning concepts (Gaio, 2017;Park, 2019;Saxena et al, 2020).…”

“…They found that the use of algorithmic design skills first in the unplugged environment increased children's success in demonstrating algorithmic design skills in the plugged environment. Song (2019) reported that students who learned flowcharting through unplugged activities developed CT skills more and a greater interest in programming than students who use the Scratch tool after having learned about flowcharts. The findings obtained in the current study are partially consistent with the aforementioned other studies.…”

Learning efficacy of understanding by design-Internet of Things (UbD-IoT) education integrated with design thinking and computational thinking

“…For instance, in 2014, the Korean Research Foundation created an unplugged block coding system that functions as a program coding textbook for teaching coding to youngsters without computer use. This system involves blocks designed as flowchart symbols, enabling individuals versed in problem-solving methods employing flowcharts to acquire coding skills (Song, 2019). The goal is not to instruct individuals on computer operation, but rather to facilitate their understanding of computer functionality and offer a methodical approach to improve their analytical and critical thinking abilities.…”