Coding in Preschool Science and Mathematics Teaching: Analysis of Scratch Projects of Undergraduate Students

Year 2022, Volume: 9 Issue: 3, 460 - 475, 20.09.2022

Didem Karakaya Cırıt

https://doi.org/10.33200/ijcer.1031848

Abstract

This paper analyzed Scratch projects developed by undergraduate students. The sample consisted of 22 child development students (18 women and four men) in the 2018-2019 academic year. The study adopted an action research design within the scope of a course titled “Teaching Science and Mathematics in Preschool Education.” The research was conducted within 14 weeks. In the first four weeks, we provided participants with training on why and how to use Scratch in science and mathematics teaching. In the following ten weeks, participants designed Scratch projects every week based on age groups, topics, and learning outcomes of their choice. Participants evaluated their projects themselves and also received feedback from peers and academics. Each participant designed ten Scratch projects (five for math and five for science). The data consisted of 220 Scratch projects and design logs. The data were analyzed using content analysis. In the first weeks, participants knew little about the content of Scratch and used one or two characters and mostly control and looks blocks. In the following weeks, they learned more about Scratch and used different Blocks.

Keywords

Scratch, science education, mathematics education, preschool education, coding

References

• Adler, R. F., & Kim, H. (2018). Enhancing future K-8 teachers’ computational thinking skills through modeling and simulations. Education and Information Technologies, 23(4), 1501-1514.
• Altanis, I., & Retalis, S. (2019). A multifaceted students’ performance assessment framework for motion-based game-making projects with scratch. Educational Media International, 56(3), 201-217.
• Atmatzidou, S., & Demetriadis, S. (2016). Advancing students’ computational thinking skills through educational robotics: A study on age and gender relevant differences. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 75, 661-670.
• Balanskat, A., & Engelhardt, K. (2015). Computing our future. Computer programming and coding. Priorities, school curricula and initiatives across Europe. European Schoolnet, Brussels.
• Calder, N. (2010). Using Scratch: An integrated problem-solving approach to mathematical thinking. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 15(4), 9-14.
• Çatlak, Ş., Tekdal, M., & Baz, F. Ç. (2015). The status of teaching programming with scratch: a document review work. Journal of Instructional Technologies & Teacher Education, 4(3), 13-25.
• Demirer, V., & Sak, N.(2016). Programming education and new approaches around the world and in Turkey/Dünyada ve Türkiye'de programlama eğitimi ve yeni yaklaşımlar. Eğitimde Kuram ve Uygulama, 12(3), 521-546.
• European Commission (2014a). Coding - the 21st century skill. European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/coding-21st-century-skill, (Accessed 10 March 2018).
• Korkmaz, Ö. (2018). The effect of scratch-and lego mindstorms Ev3-Based programming activities on academic achievement, problem-solving skills and logical-mathematical thinking skills of students. MOJES: Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 4(3), 73-88.
• Kwon, K., Lee, K., & Chung, J. (2018). Computational Concepts Reflected on Scratch Programs. International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools, 2(3), n3.Malan, D.J., & Leitner, H.H. (2007). Scratch for budding computer scientists. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 39(1), 223–227.
• Lewis, C. M., & Shah, N. (2012, February). Building upon and enriching grade four mathematics standards with programming curriculum. In Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 57-62).
• Malan, D. J., & Leitner, H. H. (2007). Scratch for budding computer scientists. ACM Sigcse Bulletin, 39(1), 223-227.
• Maloney, J.H., Peppler, K., Kafai, Y., Resnick, M., & Rusk, N. (2008). Programming by choice: Urban youth learning programming with Scratch. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 40(1), 367–371.
• Lifelong Kindergarten Group 2003, Scratch, MIT Media Lab. Available from: http://scratch.mit.edu (Accessed 15 August 2020).
• Meerbaum-Salant, O., Armoni, M., & Ben-Ari, M. (2013). Learning computer science concepts with scratch. Computer Science Education, 23(3), 239-264.
• Moreno-León, J., & Robles, G. (2015, March). Computer programming as an educational tool in the English classroom a preliminary study. In 2015 IEEE global engineering education conference (EDUCON) (pp. 961-966). IEEE.
• Moreno-León, J., Román-González, M., Harteveld, C., & Robles, G. (2017, May). On the automatic assessment of computational thinking skills: A comparison with human experts. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2788-2795).
• Resnick, M. (2013). Learn to code, code to learn. EdSurge, May, 54.
• Resnick, M., Maloney, J., Monroy-Hernández, A., Rusk, N., Eastmond, E., Brennan, K., ... & Kafai, Y. (2009). Scratch: programming for all. Communications of the ACM, 52(11), 60-67.
• Oluk, A., & Korkmaz, Ö. (2016). Comparing Students' Scratch Skills with Their Computational Thinking Skills in Terms of Different Variables. Online Submission, 8(11), 1-7.
• Tan, W. L., Samsudin, M. A., Ismail, M. E., & Ahmad, N. J. (2020). Gender Differences In Students’ Achievements In Learning Concepts Of Electricity Via Steam Integrated Approach Utilizing Scratch. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 78(3), 423.
• Taylor, M., Harlow, A., & Forret, M. (2010). Using a computer programming environment and an interactive whiteboard to investigate some mathematical thinking. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 8, 561-570.
• Tijani, F., Callaghan, R., & de Villers, R. (2020). An Investigation into Pre-service Teachers’ Experiences While Transitioning from Scratch Programming to Procedural Programming. African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 24(2), 266-278.
• Van Zyl, S., Mentz, E., & Havenga, M. (2016). Lessons learned from teaching Scratch as an introduction to object-oriented programming in Delphi. African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 20(2), 131-141.
• Yildiz, S. N., Cobanoglu, A. A., & Kisla, T. (2020). Perceived Acceptance and Use of Scratch Software for Teaching Programming: A Scale Development Study. International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools, 4(1), 53-71.
• Zhang, L. & Nouri, J. (2019). A systematic review of learning computational thinking through Scratch in K-9. Computers & Education, 141 (2019), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103607
• Zhang, H., Yang, Y., Luan, H., Yang, S., & Chua, T. S. (2014, November). Start from scratch: Towards automatically identifying, modeling, and naming visual attributes. In Proceedings of the 22nd ACM international conference on Multimedia (pp. 187-196).