TY - JOUR
T1 - Tactile scratch electronic block system
T2 - Expanding opportunities for younger children to learn programming
AU - Jo, Yunju
AU - Chun, Seok Ju
AU - Ryoo, Junwoo
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Yeonju Go, a teacher at the Buyang elementary school for teaching the Scratch programming course and administering student surveys in her class. This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2019S1A5A2A03049067).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors.
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - 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.
AB - 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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U2 - 10.18178/ijiet.2021.11.7.1529
DO - 10.18178/ijiet.2021.11.7.1529
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107956597
VL - 11
SP - 319
EP - 323
JO - International Journal of Information and Education Technology
JF - International Journal of Information and Education Technology
SN - 2010-3689
IS - 7
M1 - 1529
ER -