Abstract:

Software has been increasingly recognized and used in everyday society, necessitating the manpower training of software capability. To implement this training, the U.K. and the U.S. are promoting software education in schools. In 2015, Korea also amended its school curriculum to include software education as a requisite course in elementary and middle schools. Schools attempt to actively introduce physical computing classes that are interactive and interesting to students facing difficulties in programming. However, while various physical computing devices are being developed, physical computing devices appropriate for educational curricula have not been adequately researched. Thus, this research analyzes various physical computing devices for their suitability in the current Korean elementary curriculum. The analysis data were the core content and achievement standards of software education extracted from the practical course of the amended 2015 curriculum. In addition, this paper compared the appropriateness of physical computing devices in achieving core content and achievement standards. To compare the characteristics of each physical computing device, I modified the analyses of preceding researches. The analyzed physical computing devices were HelloBoard, which is an advanced version of PicoBoard, Makey Makey, which extends mouse and keyboard inputs, and Arduino, which has become recently popular in the physical computing field. Among the tested devices, HelloBoard best instilled a natural human sense; Makey Makey allowed versatile inputs; and Arduino showed high expandability but was proved too intricate for schoolchildren. The application could be optimized by considering the individual strengths of the various devices. This research investigates the appropriateness of the physical computing devices in an elementary curriculum. The results will assist schools with evaluating these devices and provide a database for developing and testing teaching–learning models. This research also provides a theoretical baseline for the design and development of physical computing devices for software education of schoolchildren. Other physical computing devices for school applications, such as Raspberry Pi and Entry Board, should be investigated in further studies.

Keywords:

Physical computing, elementary education, Software education.