Abstract:

This study endeavors to investigate the use of physical and digital twin pairs as tools for computational thinking, aimed at fostering proportional reasoning skills crucial for STEM studies, typically decided upon in late primary education, around ages 8-9.

The Digital Transformation Commission of the Engineering Associations of Catalonia is alarmed by the scarcity of young individuals opting for STEM paths. Early exposure to STEM concepts lays the groundwork for continuous learning. As early as age 5, children informally engage in proportional reasoning, formalized in the primary school curriculum around ages 8-9. Proportionality is a pivotal concept across STEM disciplines. Misconceptions in this area can significantly impact attitudes towards mathematics and STEM fields.

In the context of Industry 4.0, the digital twin concept is gaining prominence in Digital Transformation. This study advocates for leveraging computational thinking to enhance understanding of proportional thinking through physical and digital twin pairs.

In 2022, computational thinking was integrated into the Spanish and Catalan educational systems from early childhood through secondary education, incorporating block programming languages like Scratch or Snap!. A digital twin was also developed in Snap!. Collaborating with a primary school, a workshop was devised to explore proportional reasoning concepts such as ratio, proportion, scale, and percentage.

We led a pilot trial in a Primary School with 45 pupils using the OuComBalla workshop, based on the catalan tradition "L'Ou com balla". In the classroom, students demonstrated abstraction in two ways: first, when they translated the movement from the "l’ou com balla" video to the toy, and second, when they transferred the toy's behavior to the simulator.

The workshop featured a physical system consisting of a floating ball, controlled by an electric motor regulated by a low-cost maker-based electronic system. This user-friendly system was designed for easy implementation by any teacher and is open-source for transparency and documentation. The floating ball's height was determined by the motor's power, controlled through Snap\textit{!}. The assumption was that motor revolutions were proportional to the power setpoint.

The physical system captured students' attention and curiosity, aiding in abstracting its concepts. The system's versatility allowed experimentation with both the physical and schematic digital twin, augmented with sound effects. Throughout, computational thinking tools were employed to reinforce proportional reasoning concepts.

We gave students a five-question survey about the level of difficulty they had encountered. We also met with the teacher and the director of the center to evaluate the results obtained.

In this work we have expanded the survey to identify which algorithms and solutions the students have developed, as well as to identify in more detail where they encountered difficulties.

Keywords:

STEM, Proportional reasoning, Computational Thinking, Digital Twin, Block-Based Programming.