Using ScratchJr to Foster Young Children’s Computational Thinking Competence: A Case Study in a Third-Grade Computer Class

Chou, Pao-Nan

doi:10.1177/0735633119872908

Cited by 42 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Despite their differences in the programming interface, what is essential is that all studies reported that the four apps not only allowed children to learn necessary CT and coding skills such as sequence, repetition, and debugging but also encouraged children with a positive behavior for coding, which is necessary for their socio-emotional development (Sullivan et al, 2017;Strawhacker and Bers, 2019;Chou, 2020;Govind, Relkin and Bers, 2020). All apps helped the children learn algorithms and basic programming concepts while providing an enjoyable, interactive platform for both genders to practice these skills (Karadeniz, Samur, and Özden, 2014;Rose et al, 2017;Pila et al, 2019).…”

Section: Rq1: How Do Coding Apps Affect the Development Of Computational Thinking Of Young Age Students?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Coding Apps to Support Young Children in Computational Thinking and Computational Fluency. A Literature Review

Papadakis

2021

Front. Educ.

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Data that shows that young children can learn and acquire Computational Thinking (CT) skills has led governments and policymakers internationally to integrate CT into the curriculum, starting in the earliest grades. Researchers support the idea that this introduction must not solely focus on a problem-solving process skill (CT) but instead provide children with new ways to express themselves, supporting their cognitive, language, and socio-emotional development (Computational Fluency-CF). Coupled with the media and government’s rhetoric and an increasing number of apps offering various programming lessons, puzzles, and challenges, educators have been responsible for introducing young children to CT and CF using touchscreen technology. This paper presents a literature review (N = 21) of empirical studies on applying four coding apps to support young children’s learning of CT and CF. The main conclusion is that all apps positively affect the development of children’s CT skills. None of the apps can ultimately support the development of CF, although ScratchJr, with a “sandbox” approach, can better help students express themselves.

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Section: Rq1: How Do Coding Apps Affect the Development Of Computational Thinking Of Young Age Students?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Coding Apps to Support Young Children in Computational Thinking and Computational Fluency. A Literature Review

Papadakis

2021

Front. Educ.

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“…Overall, empirical research investigating children's programming with ScratchJr appears to have mainly focused on the coding practices manifested by the children, rather than on the computational concepts underlying these practices. We have identified only a very recent study by Chou (2020) which has investigated the development of young children's CT. As part of this study, Chou (2020) provided empirical evidence suggesting that third graders immersed in weekly programming projects using ScratchJr significantly improved their CT concepts (sequence, event, and parallelism) and practices (testing and debugging, as well as reusing and remixing). However, according to Chou (2020) a limitation was that the study investigated children's programming learning progress during a CT project and did not analyze children's CT using their programming outcomes (artifacts).…”

Section: Investigating Children's Coding and Ct Via Scratchjrmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2016) only a few empirical studies have focused on the investigation of computing in primary school settings, while such cross-sectional comparisons with primary school children have been reported only for K-3 children's coding practices (e.g., Chou, 2020;Portelance et al, 2016). At the same time, researchers have suggested the need for artifact-based content analysis approach to investigate children's CT (Chou, 2020). In this context, we pursued the following four research questions:…”

Section: Rationale and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cross-Sectional Study Investigating Primary School Children’s Coding Practices and Computational Thinking Using ScratchJr

Kyza

Georgiou

Agesilaou

et al. 2021

Journal of Educational Computing Research

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There are increasing calls to introduce computational thinking in schools; the arguments in favor call upon research suggesting that even kindergarten children can successfully engage in coding. This contribution presents a cross-sectional study examining the coding practices and computational thinking of fifty-one primary school children using the ScratchJr software; children were organized in two cohorts (Cohort 1: 6–9 years old; Cohort 2: 10–12 years old). Each cohort participated in a six-hour intervention, as part of a four-day summer club. During the intervention children were introduced to ScratchJr and were asked to collaboratively design a digital story about environmental waste management actions, thus adopting a disciplinary perspective to computational thinking. Data analyses examined children’s final artifacts, in terms of coding practices and the level of computational thinking demonstrated by each cohort. Furthermore, analysis of selected groups’ storyboard interviews was used to shed light on differences between the two cohorts. Results are presented and contrasted across the two age cohorts via a developmental perspective. The findings of this study can be useful in considering the instructional support that is necessary to scaffold the development of primary school children’s coding practices and computational thinking.

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“…There are various ways to develop CT, but programming is one of the most effective options for teaching children CT. Elementary schools often use visual block-based programming languages to help their students develop their CT skills [6], [7].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through Tx (Transmit), the slave block sends its information in the form of a signal to the master via Rx (Receive), and vice versa. The master block sends a sequence of command block information (i.e., block program) to a Scratch simulator, resulting in the movements 6 https://makeymakey.com 7 https://microbit.org 8 https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-mindstorms-ev3-31313 of Sprites. General-Purpose Input (GPI) of a slave below.…”

Section: Scratch Electronic Block Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile Scratch Electronic Block System: Expanding Opportunities for Younger Children to Learn Programming

Jo¹,

Chun

Ryoo³

2021

IJIET

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This paper introduces our work on the development of a novel system for applying MIT’s Scratch to teaching classes of four to eight-years-old students. Scratch is a visual, block-based programming language designed for anybody to create a computer program without the worry of syntax errors by assembling icon-like command blocks. However, four to eight-year-old students have trouble using a computer mouse or keyboard and face difficulties when trying Scratch programming. This research developed a tactile, electronic block system that allows students to manipulate physical objects in a tangible way to conduct their programming tasks. The system consists of a Scratch simulator and physical, electronic blocks embodying the Scratch user interface shapes. We taught programming to the classes of second-grade elementary school students (eight-years-old) using our system. The results are encouraging. Our subjects’ interest in programming improved from 3.23 to 4.0 out of the scale of 5, and fifteen students out of twenty five were able to solve nine questions on sequence, loop, and control structure successfully, which are fundamental concepts of programming.

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Using ScratchJr to Foster Young Children’s Computational Thinking Competence: A Case Study in a Third-Grade Computer Class

Cited by 42 publications

References 20 publications

The Impact of Coding Apps to Support Young Children in Computational Thinking and Computational Fluency. A Literature Review

The Impact of Coding Apps to Support Young Children in Computational Thinking and Computational Fluency. A Literature Review

A Cross-Sectional Study Investigating Primary School Children’s Coding Practices and Computational Thinking Using ScratchJr

Tactile Scratch Electronic Block System: Expanding Opportunities for Younger Children to Learn Programming

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