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Visual Programming: Computing Resources to Unleash K-12 Creativity

Visual Programming: Computing Resources to Unleash K-12 Creativity. Joel Adams, Ph.D. Department of Computer Science Calvin College. A Problem. Many high school students believe: - computing jobs are boring - only nerds study computer science - computing = no social life

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Visual Programming: Computing Resources to Unleash K-12 Creativity

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  1. Visual Programming:Computing Resourcesto Unleash K-12 Creativity Joel Adams, Ph.D. Department of Computer Science Calvin College 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  2. A Problem 2012 Michigan Tapestry Manyhigh school students believe: - computing jobs are boring - only nerds study computer science - computing = no social life - computing involves no creativity - all the jobs are going to Asia …

  3. CS Bachelors Degrees (U.S.) 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  4. What Are The Facts? 2012 Michigan Tapestry According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics…

  5. 2012 Michigan Tapestry

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  7. 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  8. Solving The Problem • Research suggests we need to engage students in middle school or earlier, before the negative stereotypes get set. • If we wait until high school, itmay be too late. 2012 Michigan Tapestry How can we attract students to computing and dispel the stereotypes?

  9. CSTA • Level 1 (K-6): • CS and Me • Level 2 (6-9). • CS and Community • Level 3 (9-12). • CS in the Modern World • CS Concepts and Practices • Topics in CS 2012 Michigan Tapestry The Computer Science Teacher’s Association has defined K-12 Computing Curriculum SLOs:

  10. How Do We Engage Students? 2012 Michigan Tapestry Many of today’s students are visual learners - We need visual tools to engage them

  11. Demos 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  12. Alice and Scratch at Calvin • Imaginary Worlds Camps at Calvin • Summer camps for middle school and up • Roughly 300 campers since 2003 • 2003-07: Storytelling using Alice • 2008-11: Games | music videos using Scratch • Same concepts taught in both versions (variables, selection, repetition, abstraction) • Noticeable differences in campers’ questions • What are IWC campers learning? 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  13. Bloom’s 3 Lowest Learning Levels • Knows: Can recall or recognize ideas and information in the form they were learned • Comprehends: Can interpret or translate information based on prior learning • Applies: Can transfer or use principles or data to solve a problem or task 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  14. IWC Projects • Each IWC camper completes and demos an open-ended project at the camp’s Showcase Session • We have a corpus of 322 projects… • 209 Alice 2.0 storytellingprojects • 103 Scratch gaming projects • 10 Scratch music video projects • All projects available at alice.calvin.edu 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  15. Idea • Study those projects to see what computing concepts campers are applyingin them • If campers usea concept in their project, they are reaching Bloom level 3 wrt that concept (variables, selection, repetition, abstraction) • Count occurrences of variables, if statements, loop statements, subprograms, … • Count animation constructs common to both Alice and Scratch (move, say/think, wait, …) • Count specific objects (e.g., fire animations) 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  16. Research Question Are there any significant differences between the different project genres (storytelling, music video, game) with respect to the concepts that campers use/apply? We wrote scripts to count these constructs, and normalize the counts (per 100 lines) 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  17. The Short Answer We found statistically significant differences (p < .01) in the number of: • Variables • If statements • Loop statements • Dialog (say/think) messages • … used in the different project genres. 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  18. Variable Declarations Per 100 Lines • Significance of Differences: • Game vs Video: p = 5.4e-7 • Game vs Storytelling: p = 1.54e-7 • Video vs Storytelling: p = 0.71 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  19. Percentage of Projects Using Variables • Significance of Differences: • Game vs Video: p = 0.082 • Game vs Storytelling: p = 2.095e-18 • Video vs Storytelling: p = 0.629 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  20. If Statements Per 100 Lines • Significance of Differences: • Game vs Video: p = 1.25e-7 • Game vs Storytelling: p = 7.09e-37 • Video vs Storytelling: p = 0.070 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  21. Loop Statements Per 100 Lines • Significance of Differences: • Game vs Video: p = 0.951 • Game vs Storytelling: p = 1.1e-5 • Video vs Storytelling: p = 0.0064 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  22. Subprograms • Alice 2.0 provides fully parameterized methods • Scratch 1.4 provides parameterless message-handlers for broadcasts • A build-your-own-block mechanism is coming in Scratch 2 We decided these abstraction mechanisms were too different to compare fairly. 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  23. Project Length (Total Lines of Code) • Significance of Differences: • Game vs Video: p = 0.0014 • Game vs Storytelling: p = 0.083 • Video vs Storytelling: p = 0.136 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  24. Dialog (Say/Think)Msgs Per 100 Lines • Significance of Differences: • Game vs Video: p = 0.392 • Game vs Storytelling: p = 1.1e-46 • Video vs Storytelling: p = 8.24e-10 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  25. Age Differences We compared projects of younger (11, 12) campers vs older (13, 14) campers: • Variables • If statements • Loop statements • Objects • Lines of code • Use of particular constructs We found just 2 significant differences… 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  26. Alice Lines of Code By Age Significance of Difference: • p = 4.15e-5 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  27. Scratch PickRandom Per 100 Lines By Age Significance of Difference: • p = 0.0083 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  28. Gender Differences We compared projects of male vs female campers for differences in the number of: • Variables • If statements • Loop statements • Objects • Lines of code • Use of particular constructs We found just 3 significant differences… 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  29. Scratch Loop-Types Per 100 Lines by M/F Significance of Differences: • repeat n times (p = 0.28) • forever (p = 2.4e-7) • forever if (p = 0.082) • repeat until (p = 0.11) 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  30. Alice Dialog Msgs Per 100 Lines by M/F Significance of Difference: • p = 3.67e-5 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  31. Alice Fire Animations Per Project by M/F Significance of Difference: • p = 1.81e-9 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  32. Some Conclusions 2012 Michigan Tapestry • Visual tools like Alice and Scratch help students visualize and master programming abstractions • Age affects students’ ability to master abstract concepts like randomness.

  33. Some Conclusions 2012 Michigan Tapestry • The game, music video, and storytelling project genres differ markedly in what they motivate students to use in open-ended projects (i.e., learn to applyat Bloom level 3). • Storytelling projects are good at teaching sequential / algorithmic thinking • Games motivate students to learn to use basic programming concepts like variables and control structures

  34. Constructs Per 100 Lines by Genre 2012 Michigan Tapestry

  35. Some Conclusions 2012 Michigan Tapestry • Given an open-ended storytelling project, boys and girls tell very different kinds of stories, on average. • Stereotypical tastes begin early!

  36. Some Conclusions 2012 Michigan Tapestry • Alice and Scratch: • Both eliminate syntax error frustration, helping students focus on logic, master concepts • Scratch has the easier learning curve • Scratch’s social networking site lets students easily share their projects • Scratch’s 2D graphics let students create their own scenes and characters • Alice’s 3D graphics + Sims models are cool • Alice’s objects and methods bridge to Java and OOP

  37. Resources Thank you! adams@calvin.edu 2012 Michigan Tapestry • Scratch: scratch.mit.edu • Educators resource site: scratched.media.mit.edu • A full middle school Scratch curriculum is available: colleenmlewis.com/scratch/ • Alice: alice.org • CSTA: csta.acm.org • CS Principles: www.csprinciples.org • Computing in the Core: www.computinginthecore.org

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