scholarly journals Development of the ICT Teachers’ Perceptions of the Contribution of Scratch Program to Programming Instruction Scale

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-71
Author(s):  
Serife Nur Yildiz ◽  
Alev Ates Cobanoglu ◽  
Tarik Kisla
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Programming Language ◽  
Visual Programming ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
Programming Instruction ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
National Education ◽  
Block Based ◽  
Visual Programming Language

Scratch which is one of the block-based software for facilitating programming teaching is commonly used for beginners of learning programming. However, there is a lack of studies about the perceptions of information and communication technologies (ICT) teachers regarding the contributions of this visual programming language. Therefore, this study deals with developing a scale for measuring ICT teachers’ perceptions based on unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) about Scratch’s contributions in teaching programming. The sample of the study includes 265 ICT teachers from Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE) secondary schools who used Scratch software in their courses. According to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses results, final version for perceptions scale of ICT teachers regarding the contributions of block-based visual programming language (Scratch) includes 28 items. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient is 0.97. This scale can help the practitioners who aims at understanding the contributions of Scratch and the other block-based visual programming languages from ICT teachers’ perspective; the researchers who wish to investigate this contribution according to various variables and the decision-makers of using Scratch in programming instruction programs.  

scholarly journals Hybrid Java: The creation of a Hybrid Programming Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Noone ◽  
Aidan Mooney ◽  
Keith Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Programming Language ◽  
Visual Programming ◽  
First Year ◽  
Programming Environment ◽  
Programming Environments ◽  
Hybrid Programming ◽  
Java Language ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Visual Programming Language

This article details the creation of a hybrid computer programming environment combining the power of the text-based Java language with the visual features of the Snap! language. It has been well documented that there exists a gap in the education of computing students in their mid-to-late teenage years, where perhaps visual programming languages are no longer suitable and textual programming languages may involve too steep of a learning curve. There is an increasing need for programming environments that combine the benefits of both languages into one. Snap! is a visual programming language which employs “blocks” to allow users to build programs, similar to the functionality offered by Scratch. One added benefit of Snap! is that it offers the ability to create one’s own blocks and extend the functionality of those blocks to create more complex and powerful programs. This will be utilised to create the Hybrid Java environment. The development of this tool will be detailed in the article, along with the motivation and use cases for it. Initial testing conducted will be discussed including one phase that gathered feedback from a pool of 174 first year Computer Science students. These participants were given instructions to work with the hybrid programming language and evaluate their experience of using it. The analysis of the findings along with future improvements to the language will also be presented.

scholarly journals Use of a Visual Programming Language and Mobile Devices to Improves Students' Understanding of Process Control Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (37) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Travieso Torres ◽  
Daniel Galdámez González ◽  
Roberto Rodríguez Travieso ◽  
Arturo Rodríguez García
Keyword(s):  
Process Control ◽  
Control Systems ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Programming Language ◽  
Visual Programming ◽  
Process Control Systems ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Visual Programming Language

Nuestra principal contribución es la aplicación del lenguaje de programación visual (VPL, de sus siglas en inglés “Visual Programming Language”) y los dispositivos móviles (MD, de sus siglas en inglés “Mobile Devices”) para el aprendizaje de los sistemas de control, lo cual mejoró la comprensión de estudiantes regulares considerados dentro de un diseño cuasiexperimental. El empleo de un ambiente de enseñanza que emplea VPL y MD para abordar los sistemas de control de procesos fue la clave para resolver las dificultades de aprendizaje que tenían el estudiante con el método de enseñanza tradicional, y que perduraban a pesar de ya que se estaba considerando la alineación constructiva entre instrucción, aprendizaje y evaluación, actividades auténticas y un enfoque de aprendizaje basado en el diseño. Los elementos gráficos utilizados por VPL, tomados de una biblioteca hecha de bloques reutilizables, con diferentes formas y colores, facilitan la comprensión de los sistemas de control de procesos. También VPL muestra todo el sistema de control de procesos de un vistazo a través de los diferentes MD utilizados, que fueron computadoras portátiles, tabletas y teléfonos inteligentes. Ayudó que todos estos MD son bien conocidos y fáciles de usar para los estudiantes. La evaluación comparativa del rendimiento de aprendizaje de los estudiantes, con y sin el uso de VPL y MD, mostró la efectividad del rediseño en el modo de enseñanza. Se facilitó el aprendizaje de los sistemas de control de procesos, reduciendo las dificultades de la enseñanza tradicional y mejorando la comprensión de los estudiantes. Además, la autoeficacia de los estudiantes se vio afectada positivamente.

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