In education, we have noticed a significant gap between the ability of students to program in an educational visual programming environment and the ability to write code in a professional programming environment. The aim of our research was to verify the methodology of transition from visual programming of mobile applications in MIT App Inventor 2…

Learning basic concepts of programming resulting in a development on computational thinking (CT) can be reached by means of digital programming environments. As a counterpart, the application of unplugged programming activities seems also to have promising potential regarding the impact on CT. The main characteristic of unplugged programming is…

High-resolution displays on mobile devices, accurate motion sensors, and efficient mobile processors have taken virtual reality (VR), essentially employed in laboratory, to everyday environments, including homes, workplaces, and classrooms. Regarding programming education, it has been investigated in conjunction with various educational…

Teaching programming is a topic that has generated a high level of interest among researchers in recent decades. In particular, multiple approaches to teaching visual programming have been explored, from the use of tools such as Scratch, robots, unplugged programming, or activities for the development of computational thinking. Despite the wide…

In order to meet the communication needs of individuals who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, communication partners are often responsible for the programming of the AAC devices. However, the prolonged learning time and operational demands of AAC devices are often barriers to an efficient use of time during a therapy…

Although digital technology is an important part of young people's lives, previous research implies that they have a limited understanding of what programming is and its connection to the digital devices they encounter every day. In order to create conditions for meaningful teaching in and about programming in technology education, more knowledge…

In this research, a GAmified Mobile Leaning Framework (GAMOLEAF) developed as a new intelligent application designed for mobile devices to ensure learning, assessing, and advancing learners' knowledge in programming complex data structures in Java programming language. GAMOLEAF adopted motivational strategies to solve motivational problems during…

As elementary students begin to program using tangible blocks, they must coordinate their use of counting with the movements, directions, and numbers they use to move a character. In our study, we analyzed 13 first graders' first attempts at coordinating these elements when playing a programming game on the iPad that used tangible programming…

Research on the role of mobile learning in computational thinking is limited, and even more so in its use in initial teacher education. Aligned to this there is a need to consider how to introduce and expose pre-service teachers to computational thinking constructs within the context of the subject area they will teach in their future classrooms.…

This article shows conditions for how an educational digital tool can open doors to an increasingly playful world -- and address some of the issues with introducing digital maths in early childhood education. Guided by a design-based research approach, the multimodal design of the educational app-based game DigiMat was iteratively created by a…

Background/purpose: At the beginning of the 21st century, Computational Thinking (CT) and coding were typically considered part of secondary education programs, focusing on programming and algorithm development. The early childhood classroom was not expected to find students who developed coding skills. Nevertheless, as has been the case lately,…

Cultural tourism provides rich opportunities for experiential learning, but a framework to foster such learning is lacking. This study introduces the "learning behaviors-interactive scenarios" framework to explore key facilitators of experiential learning in cultural tourism. Through a literature review, it outlines key learning…

Many physical devices supporting the learning of programming and digital making are now available which have the potential to make learning fun, accessible and creative for children and young adults. The advent of this new technology necessitates research to inform pedagogical approaches that work in the classroom. We carried out a study which…

The Thunkable online platform is an easy-to-use resource for creating apps for mobile devices. Computational thinking is at the heart of problem solving in computer science, and research suggests students' computational thinking improves when they use simple block coding systems similar to the format used for Thunkable.

This mixed methods case study presents the experience of a group of middle school students in a year-long, after-school computing programme in a large, inner-city school district in the southeastern United States. The purpose of this research is to explore informal educational strategies that are conducive at giving underrepresented minority youth…