A CLASSROOM SNS TO DEVELOP CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN PROGRAMMING LEARNING

Recently, workshops involving programming on computers have been held in elementary education to promote creative thinking. As a model for developing creative thinking skills, a spiraling cycle of Imagine, Create, Play, Share and Reflect is emphasized by Michel Resnick who created Scratch. In our experience of conducting programming workshops for children for over 10 years, however, we cannot have enough time to let them Share and Reflect their creative activity. Share and Reflect activity leads to self-evaluation and peer-evaluation which give them motivation.

We have developed a classroom social-network site (SNS) and an iPad application for children to post and share their project. On this SNS site, they can post three kinds of contents: action view, code view, and comments. By recording the process of creation with iPad and sharing their project with others on SNS, children have an opportunity to review their project. At the same time, children who are inexperienced in programming can refer to other’s projects to expand their idea.

This SNS site has some specific features to motivate children. When posting their project, they can choose to hide the action view or the code view. They need to scan a secret QR code displayed on iPad, leading to promoting interaction among children. With a handwriting function, they can write their comment easily. Taking a screenshot of the action and codes with iPad, they can pick up the most appealing part of their project to share. Using stamps, they can express their impressions simply and with fun.

We conducted an experiment to examine if children using this SNS and iPad application have done “Share” and “Reflect” during a programming workshop. The result shows that all children have shared their games on this SNS at least once during the workshop and comment other’s post. It was found from the result that doing “Share” is performed by children using this SNS and iPad application. Also, most children checked their posts after they came back their home to reflect their coding. It was also found from the result that this SNS and iPad application would promote motivation for “Reflect” to children.