Mobile game for learning programming in elementary school

Denis Korinšek (2018) Mobile game for learning programming in elementary school. MSc thesis.

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Abstract

From birth, children learn through play. Due to advancements in computer science and technology we are increasingly learning with help of those same technologies, which are very much applicable in primary schools, as well. For our master thesis, we developed a mobile game. The goal is to teach children the basic programming concepts and develop their cognitive abilities through play and computer logic thinking. We developed the meta environment which allows children to learn the concepts of a command sequence, loops and if statements. Featuring support for multiple programming languages, a child is able to learn the differences between them. A child is able to write in chain block, flowchart or pseudocode modes in the programming language of choice. The game is designed for children in the second triennium of primary school. The environment is presented with pictures, animations and sound, making it suitable for even younger children. We analysed and tested the game on four children outside the primary school. Analysis showed that children had fun while learning and that the jump from visual programming to programming with code presented the biggest challenge.

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