Abstract:

Current educational models are progressively moving from a contents-based teaching style to the more challenging design of student centered activities focused on the development of skills and key competences. This is usually achieved introducing active learning strategies in the classroom, with the main emphasis being put on the student. Many studies conclude that computer programming is an activity that promotes the development of skills such as creativity, problem solving or using their initiative while learning (Zuckerman y Resnick, 2004).

Many students think that programming is a difficult and boring activity because of the abstraction and complexity of the concepts used. Scratch is a programming environment created by MIT which is attractive, easy to use and free. It supports a method of active and constructivist learning. It also provides a cooperative learning environment which allows practitioners to share projects on the Internet and get support from a learning community (Monroy-Hernández y Resnick, 2008; Chen, 2010).

This work evaluates the impact of Scratch programming activities on the development of key competencies or skills by first year students in secondary education. A sample of 52 participants aged 12-13 were selected from the Antonio Tovar Secondary School (Valladolid, Spain) where the first author teaches Technology. The participants were splitted into two separate groups: the experimental group using Scratch and a control group of non-participating students. We carried out a test before (Pre-test) and after (Post-test) the experience using standard psychometric test BADYG (Yuste, Martínez Arias y Galve, 1998). The participants in the experimental group did activities using Scratch for 6 months, 3 hours a week. The instructions of the activities can be found on the website www.scratchtovar.blogspot.com. Once the students had finished each activity, they shared it on Twitter, writing their impressions of the exercises done using the Hagstag #ScratchTovar. Throughout the experimental period, we recorded all the relevant aspects of the Scratch sessions carried out with students. At the same time, interviews and questionnaires with parents and students took place so that a qualitative study of the experience could be carried out.

While we are still waiting for the final quantitative results, qualitative analysis shows clearly that this activity has a very positive impact on students’ learning abilities. The experience is also reported as highly engaging and rewarding by everyone involved, specially the students.

References:
[1] Chen, R. (2010). ScratchStats: a site for visualizing and understanding scratch usage data. MSc. Dissertation: MIT Media Lab., Massachusetts.
[2] Monroy-Hernández, A. y Resnick, M. (2008). Empowering kids to create and share programmable media. Interactions, 15(2), 50.
[3] Yuste, C., Martínez Arias, M.R. y Galve, J.L. (1998). BADyG. Manual Técnico. Madrid: CEPE
[4] Zuckerman, O. y Resnick, M. (2004). Hands-on modeling and simulation of systems. In A. Druin (Ed.), (pp. 157–158). Presented at the Proceedings of the 2004 conference on Interaction design and children: building a community, New York: ACM.

Keywords:

Programming in Secondary School, Computational Thinking, Scratch.