Coding with Minecraft: The Development of Middle School Students' Computational Thinking

Autor/inn/en	Kutay, Emine; Oner, Diler
Titel	Coding with Minecraft: The Development of Middle School Students' Computational Thinking
Quelle	In: ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 22 (2022) 2, Artikel 21 (19 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Schlagwörter	Programming; Video Games; Middle School Students; Computation; Thinking Skills; Skill Development; Computer Science Education; Grade 5; Instructional Effectiveness; Foreign Countries; Turkey + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Programmierung; Video game; Videospiel; Videospiele; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Denkfähigkeit; Kompetenzentwicklung; Qualifikationsentwicklung; Computer science lessons; Informatikunterricht; School year 05; 5. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 05; Unterrichtserfolg; Ausland; Türkei
Abstract	The purpose of this study is to examine the role of Minecraft-based coding activities on computational thinking (CT) of middle school students. In the study, CT was conceptualized so that it encapsulates not only the knowledge of computational concepts (e.g., loops and conditionals) but also the use of CT practices (e.g., testing and debugging). Data were collected using a combination of knowledge of computational concepts tests, the Minecraft-based coding artifacts, and one-on-one student interviews focusing on the processes of developing computational artifacts. The participants were 20 fifth-grade middle school students from a low-income public school with very limited (if none) formal computer programming experiences before the study. The Minecraft-based coding activities were designed and implemented as an instructional program to last 6 weeks. The results of the study showed a statistically significant increase in students' knowledge of computational concepts. Based on the analysis of the students' final coding artifacts, we identified that students mostly used the concepts of sequences, events, loops, and parallelism correctly, whereas variables, operators, and conditionals appeared to be the least successfully used concepts. The qualitative analysis of the artifact-based interviews showed that students employed the CT practices of testing and debugging most of the time while developing an artifact through coding. In contrast, the least resorted CT practice appeared to be reusing and remixing. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Association for Computing Machinery. 2 Penn Plaza Suite 701, New York, NY 10121. Tel: 800-342-6626; Tel: 212-626-0500; Fax: 212-944-1318; e-mail: acmhelp@acm.org; Web site: http://toce.acm.org/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01