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    Rights statement: © ACM, 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in WiPSCE '15 Proceedings of the Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2818314.2818340

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Teaching computer science to 5-7 year-olds: an initial study with Scratch, Cubelets and unplugged computing

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSNConference contribution/Paperpeer-review

Published
Publication date9/11/2015
Host publicationWiPSCE '15 Proceedings of the Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherACM
Pages55-60
Number of pages6
ISBN (print)9781450337533
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Changes to school curriculums increasingly require the introduction of computer science concepts to younger children. This practical report compares three existing tools for teaching computer science concepts: unplugged computing, tangible computing and MIT's Scratch. We specifically focus on the use of these tools for school pupils aged 5--7. We describe a comparative study with 28 pupils from three rural UK primary schools that explores engagement with, and effectiveness of, each tool. As far as we are aware this is the first such comparative study of its kind. We demonstrate that the studied tools can be used to successfully introduce core computer science concepts to pupils as young as 5 years of age, that the methods used by teachers to deliver computing curriculums may greatly impact the learning outcomes, and that particular care needs to be taken to ensure that pupils focus on learning concepts rather than learning tools.

Bibliographic note

© ACM, 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in WiPSCE '15 Proceedings of the Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2818314.2818340