مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد تجربه یادگیری کودکان در فعالیتهای کد نویسی – الزویر 2019

Over the last few years, the integration of coding activities for children in K-12 education has flourished. In addition, novel technological tools and programming environments have offered new opportunities and increased the need to design effective learning experiences. This paper presents a design-based research (DBR) approach conducted over two years, based on constructionism-based coding experiences for children, following the four stages of DBR. Three iterations (cycles) were designed and examined in total, with participants aged 8–17 years old, using mixed methods. Over the two years, we conducted workshops in which students used a block-based programming environment (i.e., Scratch) and collaboratively created a socially meaningful artifact (i.e., a game). The study identifies nine design principles that can help us to achieve higher engagement during the coding activity. Moreover, positive attitudes and high motivation were found to result in the better management of cognitive load. Our contribution lies in the theoretical grounding of the results in constructionism and the emerging design principles. In this way, we provide both theoretical and practical evidence of the value of constructionism-based coding activities.

Introduction

There is growing evidence supporting the introduction of computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) into K-12 education (Hubwieser, Armoni, Giannakos, & Mittermeir, 2014); (Horizon, 2015). According to Wing (2006 p.33) “CT represents a universally applicable attitude and skill set everyone, not just computer scientists, would be eager to learn and use”. CT involves problem solving, design of systems and understanding human behavior by employing central concepts of CS (Wing, 2006). Organizations like the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), Informatics Europe, the Cyber Innovation Center, and the National Math and Science Initiative have developed standards applied to coding education (Hubwieser et al., 2015). Increasing interest in learning coding in pedagogical contexts has also been driven and disseminated by organizations like Code.org and Codeacademy, which argue for the need to create skills that support future career opportunities while highlighting the educational advantages that coding offers. CT and coding in education have become integral parts of the school curricula in many countries. For example, the United Kingdom has integrated computer programming as a mandatory course starting from primary school (Jones, 2013), while Denmark promotes digital literacy, focusing on the knowledge gained from building technologies (Tuhkala, Wagner, Nielsen, Iversen, & Kärkkäinen, 2018). Pioneered by Seymour Papert (Papert, 1980), computer programming in education has received a lot of interest from educators and researchers seeking alternative ways of teaching complex problem-solving skills and providing dynamic learning experiences (Kalelioğlu, 2015; Lye & Koh, 2014).