Abstract:

The block programming language Scratch is increasingly used in Slovakia as an introductory language to programming education. There are several studies that prove that Scratch is suitable for teaching programming to students aged 11 to 14. They use some computer science concepts less than others. A less used concept in student projects is creating and calling procedures (called My blocks in Scratch) with inputs. For students interested in programming, we have been organizing the Scratch Cup competition in Slovakia for the seventh year. Our analysis confirms the findings, and also shows that in a quarter of the solutions, inputs were used incorrectly. In the article, we describe our research in more detail. It describes various types of student errors in connection with the design and use of procedures. Misconceptions with the use of inputs in procedures are revealed and we show that global variables are used instead of inputs. Recommendations for teaching programming will also be proposed.

Keywords:

Scratch, programming, inputs.