This paper considers how a curricular design that integrated computer programming and creative movement shaped students' engagement with computing. We draw on data from a camp for middle schoolers, focusing on an activity in which students used the programming environment NetLogo to re-represent their physical choreography. We analyze the extent…

Background: Many studies have highlighted the positive effects of visual programming instruction (VPI) on students' learning experiences, programming self-efficacy and flow experience. However, there is a notable gap in the research on how these factors specifically impact programming achievement and learning intentions. Our study addresses this…

This qualitative study explored high school students' engagement with a unit where video games and video game materials were incorporated into an English Language Arts classroom. Over several weeks, students engaged with video game content and composed their own video games using the free online platform, Scratch. The purpose of the study was to…

A global concern in recent years has been the formal incorporation of computing and digital technology subjects into high school curricula. Despite many initiatives to make these subjects accessible to students, significant barriers to uptake remain in many countries. In this study we convened a panel of 32 academic, research, and other experts…

Background: Students make many errors in visual programming. In order to learn from these, it is important that students regulate their emotions and view errors as learning opportunities. Aims: This study aimed to explore to what extent momentary emotions, specifically enjoyment, anxiety and boredom, as well as the error learning orientation of…

Secondary school students (N = 269) participated in a daylong visual programming course held in a stimulating environment for start-up enterprises. The tasks were application-oriented and partly creative. For example, a wearable device with light-emitting diodes, (ie, LEDs) could be applied to a T-shirt and used for optical messages. Our research…

This study seeks to deepen the understanding of the direct and indirect effects of human-computer dialogic interaction programming activities, facilitated by ChatGPT, on student engagement. Data were collected from 109 Chinese high school students who engaged in programming tasks using either ChatGPT-driven dialogic interaction or traditional pair…

RoblockLLy is an educational robotics simulator designed for primary and secondary school students, whose goal is to increase their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In the particular case of computer science, it allows developing computational thinking skills. It has been designed with ease of use in mind. This free…

The game-based learning approach to developing students' computational thinking (CT) current has received attention from researchers. However, the compatibility between games and instruction is often insufficient to accommodate the entertaining and educational nature of the curriculum entirely, and the benefits of game-based learning could be…

Feedback is crucial during programming problem solving, but context often lacks critical and difference. Generative artificial intelligence dialogic feedback (GenAIDF) has the potential to enhance learners' experience through dialogue, but its effectiveness remains sufficiently underexplored in empirical research. This study employed a rigorous…

Physics educators often struggle with how to tackle complex content such as electric potential. As a result, high school students are typically not engaged in developing a deep understanding of this concept. Historically, such engagement has been perceived as too challenging and abstract. To date no process exists for engaging students in a…

Over the past 7 years, we pioneered the development of a program blending dance choreography, computer programming, and a virtual environment to teach computational thinking, broadening pathways for more diverse students. We investigated the ways in which upper elementary and middle school students creating dance performances for virtual…

This article builds on prior work that aims to measure computational learning (CL) during middle school. Since game computational sophistication (GCS) has been used as a proxy for a student's engagement in CL we build on their model to more completely describe the relationship between different types of building blocks of computer games and GCS.…

Purpose: The conducted examination of programming affordances and constraints had the purpose of adding knowledge and value that facilitate the on-going national curricula revision; knowledge that also could be of general interest outside the Swedish K-12 context. Design/methodology/approach: With a qualitative approach, the study was conducted as…

This study examined the effects of virtual and physical robots (VPR) using in different learning stages (simple session/complex session) in a robotics programming course. A quasi-experimental design was implemented with 84 junior high school students from two classes. One class with 44 students used combination of VPR strategy for learning,…