Abstract
The aim of this paper is to describe a didactic intervention that aimed to introduce pre-service teachers to visual programming with the ultimate goal of enabling them to support their students on constructing multimedia in the context of Geography in the future. Students created multimedia software about Physical Geography topics using MIT Scratch. The way the students used scientific knowledge and did the didactic transformation in order to build their artefacts has been presented elsewhere. In this article students’ ability and attitudes on programming are examined. More specifically, we study the techniques and programming structures students use, as an indicator of what students learned. Furthermore, we study difficulties on programming and other technical difficulties they confront, as well as their attitudes towards Scratch which developed through the didactic intervention. The results are encouraging since students create software that work properly and develop a positive attitude toward Scratch.
Highlights
Seymour Papert’s Constructionism theory, which adopts the learning approach of building of cognitive structures, introduces the idea that knowledge building is more successful “in a context where the learner is consciously engaged in constructing a public entity, whether it's a sandcastle on the beach or a theory of the universe” [1]
Scratch enables the construction of interactive multimedia material like games and simulations, and it is addressed to the educational community from primary education to the University
Digital games and simulations are valuable in Geography as they create a better teaching atmosphere, which helps students fulfil the learning objectives
Summary
Seymour Papert’s Constructionism theory, which adopts the learning approach of building of cognitive structures, introduces the idea that knowledge building is more successful “in a context where the learner is consciously engaged in constructing a public entity, whether it's a sandcastle on the beach or a theory of the universe” [1]. A widespread technological suggestion of constructionism is the LOGO language and LOGO like programming environments. These technological proposals have enabled students to produce visual artifacts, with the assistance of teachers who are working as inspirators as well as facilitators of the realization of students' ideas. The artifacts can be changed and transformed so that students can experiment with both their ideas and the ideas of their peers, building new knowledge. One such contemporary programming environment is Scratch. Teachers are not always sufficiently informed about new technologies in Geography education [2]
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