Abstract
The shift towards physicality and materiality in interaction design and the rise of the Internet of Things is likely to lead to a high demand for physical computing devices and experiences in the coming years. Previous researches have argued that design and development for physical computing require on a diversity of skills including physical design, electronics, computational logic and programming and collaboration. Recent trends in computing education (e.g., initiatives that seek to encourage engagement with computer science topics from a younger age) have the potential to make schools a highly promising site for the development of physical computing skills. Yet, we hypothesize that teaching and learning physical computing is likely to present a range of unique challenges that aren’t addressed by programs that are primarily focused on topics of computing and computer programming alone. In this paper, we present a study that explores the extent and nature of physical computing teaching in the context of one high-profile computing education program: the UK’s Computing at School initiative. Our study comprised a questionnaire that was distributed to teachers, and follow-up interviews with selected respondents. Our findings suggested that physical computing concepts aren't commonly taught in schools, despite physical computing tools being prevalent.
Highlights
A simple definition for physical computing relies on building interactive constructions or systems through the use of hardware and software combined, with an instant feedback from the real world. This is to refer that learning electrical circuits, and other hardware components are as important as software programming. better learning mechanism can be achieved through following Papert's constructionism theory, as the theory matches the criteria of learning physical computing
We conclude that the findings indicated that the major challenges that faced the teachers in teaching the subject of physical computing are due to cost and availability, lack of knowledge, time, complexity, or less interest in the subject
Despite the fact that microcontrollers are popular in most UK schools, our findings indicated that only 36.8% of respondents do use electrical circuits in their computing class
Summary
A simple definition for physical computing relies on building interactive constructions or systems through the use of hardware and software combined, with an instant feedback from the real world. This is to refer that learning electrical circuits, and other hardware components are as important as software programming. We posited that physical computing concepts aren't commonly taught in schools, despite physical computing tools being prevalent. Stankovic et al define Physical Computing as “seamlessly integrating computing with the physical world via sensors and actuators” [77]. Physical computing devices and experiences are due to become increasingly prevalent in our society and economy.
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