Programming in Year 4: An Analysis of the Design Research Process

Ivan Kalas, Andrej Blaho, Milan Moravcik

2022

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the educational design research process in which we looked to develop an evidence-based intervention and professional development (PD) content for programming in primary Year 4b. We explain how the latest period of the Computing with Emil project extends our previous intervention for Year 3 by exploiting the same constructivist pedagogy and design principles. We recall these principles and the research strategy which we consider appropriate for the current state of knowledge in transforming computing education in lower primary years. As the concluding phase of the design research, we reflect on the design process in greater depth and formulate the characteristics of the intervention by focusing on its programming language and concepts. To frame this effort, we identify five interwoven contexts that shaped the development cycles of our inquiry, namely: (1) programming environment, (2) programming language, (3) content development, (4) workbook for pupils, and (5) teachers’ PD design. Looking back, we analyse the iterative design process within these contexts through the lens of the five instruments of reflection we were continuously exploiting to inform our design, namely: (a) observing pupils work, (b) interviewing teachers, (c) analysing pupils’ workbooks and onscreen content, (d) evaluating Emil Y4 pilot PD sessions, and (e) analysing Emil Y3 data. Among other findings, which have resulted from the analysis of the design process, we highlight in particular a thoughtfully designed pulsating range of the command set. Although we had gradually created the content ourselves, it was not earlier than the concluding retrospective analysis that exposed it so clearly.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Kalas I., Blaho A. and Moravcik M. (2022). Programming in Year 4: An Analysis of the Design Research Process. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU, ISBN 978-989-758-562-3, pages 425-433. DOI: 10.5220/0010988000003182

in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu22,
author={Ivan Kalas and Andrej Blaho and Milan Moravcik},
title={Programming in Year 4: An Analysis of the Design Research Process},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,},
year={2022},
pages={425-433},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010988000003182},
isbn={978-989-758-562-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU,
TI - Programming in Year 4: An Analysis of the Design Research Process
SN - 978-989-758-562-3
AU - Kalas I.
AU - Blaho A.
AU - Moravcik M.
PY - 2022
SP - 425
EP - 433
DO - 10.5220/0010988000003182