Computer Aided Instruction As A Vehicle For Problem Solving: Scratch Boards In The Middle Years Classroom

Abstract

Her research interest is understanding how technology can be used to improve K-12 mathematics education. She is interested in developing applications for classroom use that factor the computational resource limitations of urban public schools. Her future research will investigate methods for computer scientists to collaborate with educators to improve K-12 as well as computer science education. William Mongan, Drexel University Bill Mongan is a Ph.D. student at Drexel University in the Department of Computer Science. Concurrently, Bill is pursuing an MS in Science of Instruction in the School of Education at Drexel, with a concentration in Secondary Mathematics and Computer Science in Pennsylvania. His interests include educational outreach and for exposing the K-12 environment to computer science as an application of science, technology, math and engineering (STEM) education. Prior to studying at Drexel, Bill worked for the Upper Darby School District, working with students on both an educational and volunteer basis in the AP Computer Science program from 2002-2004. He has served on the UDSD School Board Technology and Grant committee in 2001, and interviewed for a vacant UDSD School Board seat in 2000.

The effect of block-based game development activities on the geometry achievement, computational thinking skills and opinions of seventh-grade students

“…Scratch, which enables block-based coding, is one of the tools that is used for this purpose. (Brown ,2008;Burke & Kafai, 2010;Genç & Karakuş, 2011;Mercan & Aktaş, 2018;Shin & Park, 2014;Vatansever, 2018). Scratch is a block coding software that enables game creation and animation.…”

Investigation of the Studies on the Use of Scratch Software in Education

“…Scratch has recently been used extensively in the literature and it was found to be effective in providing coding skills to individuals and offering a more memorable, more meaningful and more social environment compared to other programming environments (Maloney et al, 2010). In addition, the studies conducted show that the teaching of programming with Scratch had a significant effect in terms of creativity (Kobsiripat, 2015;Oh, Lee & Kim, 2013;Taylor, Harlow & Forret, 2010;Yünkül et al, 2017), that it facilitated mathematical thinking (Brown et al, 2008;Calder, 2010), that it provided a cooperative learning environment (Papatğa, 2016;Taylor, Harlow & Forret, 2010), that it affected students' self-efficacy perceptions positively (Yükseltürk & Altıok, 2016a), that it helped students to interact with each other, and that it positively affected their communication (Lopez, Gonzalez & Cano, 2016;Maloney et al, 2010).…”

Investigation of the Relationship Between Algorithmic Thinking Capability and Problem Solving Skills: The Case of Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School

“…It is stated in the related literature that programming teaching is effective in the development of various skills in learners. Programming instruction improves students' problem-solving skills (Bergersen & Gustafsson, 2011;Brown et al, 2013;Kalelioğlu & Gülbahar, 2014;Lai & Lai, 2012;Lai & Yang, 2011), positively affecting cognitive learning (Clements and Sara-ma, 2003;Crescenzi, Malizia, Verri, Diaz and Aedo, 2012;Grover & Pea, 2013;Utting, Cooper, Kölling, Maloney & Resnick, 2010), where students develop higher-order thinking skills (Kafai & Burke, 2014;Shih, 2014), increased motivation (Akpınar and Altun, 2014;Sáez-López, Román-González, and Vázquez-Cano, 2016), and developed creative thinking skills (Fesakis and Serafeim, 2009;Kobsiripat, 2015).…”