Abstract
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.
Highlights
Computational Thinking (CT) as a necessary ability in a modern society is gaining traction
We developed a tactile Scratch electronic block system that allows children to touch physical blocks and do Scratch programming
Zhiyi Rong et al [9] developed a tangible programming toolkit for engaging blind and visually impaired students to learn fundamental programming concepts by creating a simple melody. This toolkit contains a set of blocks comprising tangible syllable blocks and several distinctive function blocks representing different programming concepts
Summary
Computational Thinking (CT) as a necessary ability in a modern society is gaining traction. There are many research projects for developing computational thinking among students. Among these efforts, programming is one of the best ways to help people develop their CT skills. Scratch allows students to focus on programming concepts and logic instead of grammatical errors. It makes programming more approachable [2]. Children under eight had trouble dragging and dropping [4] To address this problem, we developed a tactile Scratch electronic block system that allows children to touch physical blocks and do Scratch programming. We expect to four-to-eight-year olds to learn Scratch programming more by taking advantage of our system
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
