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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Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Conference contribution/Paper › peer-review
Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Conference contribution/Paper › peer-review
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TY - GEN
T1 - Teaching computer science to 5-7 year-olds
T2 - an initial study with Scratch, Cubelets and unplugged computing
AU - Wohl, Benjamin
AU - Porter, Barry
AU - Clinch, Sarah
N1 - © 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
PY - 2015/11/9
Y1 - 2015/11/9
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - unplugged, Cubelets; computing curriculum; primary education; early years; tangible computing
U2 - 10.1145/2818314.2818340
DO - 10.1145/2818314.2818340
M3 - Conference contribution/Paper
SN - 9781450337533
SP - 55
EP - 60
BT - WiPSCE '15 Proceedings of the Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education
PB - ACM
CY - New York
ER -