JCSE, vol. 13, no. 1, pp.1-10, 2019

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5626/JCSE.2019.13.1.1

A Methodology for the Analysis of Block-Based Programming Languages Appropriate for Children

Radoslava Kraleva, Velin Kralev, and Dafina Kostadinova
Department of Informatics, South-West University "Neofit Rilski", Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, South-West University "Neofit Rilski", Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

Abstract: Nowadays, the interest of young people in programming is decreasing steadily on a global scale. This, however, is becoming a problem for global economic development. The dynamic development of technologies requires implementation of new teaching and learning methods. As a result, new Computer Science courses related to programming in primary education have been introduced. Pupils learn the basics and the programming skills using new visual programming languages known as block-based programming languages that allow the design of programming algorithms (program logic) using drag-and-drop of program chunks, named blocks. This makes the programming languages easy to use even by young children. The lack of a reasonable argument for the choice of block-based programming languages based on their functional characteristics, interface and children's preference prompted this investigation. This article discusses some of the modern block-based programming languages. Research into the state-of-the-art scientific publications on this issue has been done. The criteria for comparing and analyzing these programming languages have been defined. As a result, the blockbased programming languages that best meet the criteria have been identified. Two languages (Scratch and Code.org) have been selected based on the proposed methodology. These languages were used for two weeks by pupils in the 3rd and 4th grades in Bulgaria. The main goal of this study is to determine the degree of similarity between block-based and traditional programming languages, as well as discuss the opportunity for their use in the Bulgarian primary school. The proposed methodology can be easily adapted and used in other countries. An important factor in this research is the support available in the pupils' native language for the integrated development environment and programming languages.

Keyword: Block-based programming languages; Programming language for children; Human-computer interaction; Computational thinking; Computer science education

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