Drawing on historical epistemology and considerations on the function of scientific modelling, this article investigates how in the mid-twentieth century electronic and programmable animal models became tools for exploring the inaccessible ontology of the human mind. The article examines how machines have informed our understanding of the learning…

The integration of visual programming in early formal education has been found to promote computational thinking of students. Teachers' intuitive perspectives about optimal learning processes -- "folk psychology" -- impact their perspectives about teaching "folk pedagogy" and play a significant role in integrating educational…

Coding and computational thinking have recently become compulsory skills in many school systems globally. Teaching these new skills presents a challenge for many teachers. A notable example of professional development designed using Constructionist principles to address this challenge is "ScratchEd". Upon reflecting on her experiences…

We survey the literature about the teaching and learning of recursive programming. After a short history of the advent of recursion in programming languages and its adoption by programmers, we present curricular approaches to recursion, including a review of textbooks and some programming methodology, as well as the functional and imperative…

Research on the effectiveness of introductory programming environments often relies on post-test measures and attitudinal surveys to support its claims; but such instruments lack the ability to identify any explanatory mechanisms that can account for the results. This paper reports on a study designed to address this issue. Using Noss and Hoyles'…

This article presents a systematic review of research related to the use of robotics construction kits (RCKs) in P-12 learning in the STEM disciplines for typically developing children. The purpose of this review is to configure primarily qualitative and mixed methods findings from studies meeting our selection and quality criterion to answer the…

A group of first-semester engineering students participated in a game design course. The aim of the course was to learn how to design computer games and programming skills by creating their own games, thereby applying their game-playing experiences to gain knowledge about game design. The aim was for students to develop a more critically…

While pedagogical and technological affordances of three-dimensional (3D) multiuser virtual worlds in various educational disciplines are largely well-known, a study about their effect on high school students' engagement in introductory programming courses is still lacking. This case study presents students' opinions about their participation in a…

This study employed a case study design (Yin, "Case study research, design and methods," 2009) to investigate the processes used by 5th graders to design and develop computer games within the context of their environmental science unit, using the theoretical framework of "constructionism." Ten fifth graders designed computer games using "Scratch"…

Recent studies in learning programming have largely focused on high school and college students; less is known about how young children learn to program. From video data of 20 students using a graphical programming interface, we identified ideas that were shared and evolved through an elementary school classroom. In mapping these ideas and their…

In this paper the influence of the learning context is considered when learning to program. For the purposes of this study, the lectures, study process, previous knowledge or teaching experience and tests comprised the learning context. The article argues that students' experiences of the learning context have important implications for teaching…

In this article we try to show how new devices and methods can help in the education of programming. At Kecskemét College programmable mobile robots and instead of behavioral, the constructivist pedagogical methods were used. Our experiments have proved our hypothesis as the improved new methodical education using devices can give more practical…

We report on responses to a series of four questions designed to identify pre-existing abilities related to debugging and troubleshooting experiences of novice students before they begin programming instruction. The focus of these questions include general troubleshooting, bug location, exploring unfamiliar environments, and describing students'…

Discusses problems in creating the information retrieval mechanisms used in constructivist computer-based learning environments to support knowledge discovery: (1) subject can not always be pre-specified and the learner may not know what to seek; (2) retrieval strategies differ considerably from conventional ones, with the search including data,…

Examines research on computer-based mathematics learning in the context of constructivist learning and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards. The reviewed studies examined the effectiveness of computer software in the three categories of programming, computer-assisted instruction, and mathematical tools. Future research is…