Frogs to think with-improving students' computational thinking and understanding of evolution in a code-first learning environment

Yu Guo; Aditi Wagh; Corey Brady; Sharona T. Levy; Michael S. Horn; Uri Wilensky

doi:10.1145/2930674.2930724

Frogs to think with-improving students' computational thinking and understanding of evolution in a code-first learning environment

Yu Guo, Aditi Wagh, Corey Brady, Sharona T. Levy, Michael S. Horn, Uri Wilensky

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

This paper presents Frog Pond, an interactive code-first learning environment about biological evolution. We deployed Frog Pond as part of a six-day curricular unit on natural selection implemented in six 7^th grade science classes. Here we describe a case study of two students, Charlie and Aaron who participated in the unit. Comparing pre- and post-interviews in which they were asked to design a program for a hypothetical simulation of evolution, we found that both students shifted from an event-based programming approach to a rule-based approach. Both students also drew upon their experience with Frog Pond to explain an evolutionary phenomenon. However, the level of sophistication of the two students' explanations varied along with the aspects of Frog Pond they drew upon. These findings have implications for design improvement to better support students' understanding of evolution.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages	246-254
Number of pages	9
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450343138
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2930674.2930724
State	Published - 21 Jun 2016
Event	15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, IDC 2016 - Manchester, United Kingdom Duration: 21 Jun 2016 → 24 Jun 2016

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children

Conference

Conference	15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, IDC 2016
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Manchester
Period	21/06/16 → 24/06/16

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 ACM.

Keywords

Agent-based modeling
Code-first learning environment
Computational thinking
Evolution

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Education
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Human-Computer Interaction

Access to Document

10.1145/2930674.2930724

Cite this

Guo, Y., Wagh, A., Brady, C., Levy, S. T., Horn, M. S., & Wilensky, U. (2016). Frogs to think with-improving students' computational thinking and understanding of evolution in a code-first learning environment. In Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (pp. 246-254). (Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children). Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1145/2930674.2930724

Guo, Yu ; Wagh, Aditi ; Brady, Corey et al. / Frogs to think with-improving students' computational thinking and understanding of evolution in a code-first learning environment. Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2016. pp. 246-254 (Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children).

@inproceedings{c1a9bf6048e945e6b811da51aeb6f138,

title = "Frogs to think with-improving students' computational thinking and understanding of evolution in a code-first learning environment",

abstract = "This paper presents Frog Pond, an interactive code-first learning environment about biological evolution. We deployed Frog Pond as part of a six-day curricular unit on natural selection implemented in six 7th grade science classes. Here we describe a case study of two students, Charlie and Aaron who participated in the unit. Comparing pre- and post-interviews in which they were asked to design a program for a hypothetical simulation of evolution, we found that both students shifted from an event-based programming approach to a rule-based approach. Both students also drew upon their experience with Frog Pond to explain an evolutionary phenomenon. However, the level of sophistication of the two students' explanations varied along with the aspects of Frog Pond they drew upon. These findings have implications for design improvement to better support students' understanding of evolution.",

keywords = "Agent-based modeling, Code-first learning environment, Computational thinking, Evolution",

author = "Yu Guo and Aditi Wagh and Corey Brady and Levy, {Sharona T.} and Horn, {Michael S.} and Uri Wilensky",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 ACM.; 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, IDC 2016 ; Conference date: 21-06-2016 Through 24-06-2016",

year = "2016",

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doi = "10.1145/2930674.2930724",

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Guo, Y, Wagh, A, Brady, C, Levy, ST, Horn, MS & Wilensky, U 2016, Frogs to think with-improving students' computational thinking and understanding of evolution in a code-first learning environment. in Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children. Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, pp. 246-254, 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, IDC 2016, Manchester, United Kingdom, 21/06/16. https://doi.org/10.1145/2930674.2930724

Frogs to think with-improving students' computational thinking and understanding of evolution in a code-first learning environment. / Guo, Yu; Wagh, Aditi; Brady, Corey et al.
Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2016. p. 246-254 (Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Guo Y, Wagh A, Brady C, Levy ST, Horn MS, Wilensky U. Frogs to think with-improving students' computational thinking and understanding of evolution in a code-first learning environment. In Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. 2016. p. 246-254. (Proceedings of IDC 2016 - The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children). doi: 10.1145/2930674.2930724

Frogs to think with-improving students' computational thinking and understanding of evolution in a code-first learning environment

Abstract

Publication series

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Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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