Scratch Options! Using programming to Approach Social-Emotionally Challenging Situations in Grade 4 Classrooms

Research output: Contribution to book/conference proceedings/anthology/reportConference contributionContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Even though fostering computational thinking (CT) and social-emotional skills has been an area of interest in educational research and practice for many years, the simultaneous support of CT and social-emotional skills has not yet been investigated. To address this gap, we developed a workshop to help Grade 4 students work on social-emotionally challenging situations using the Scratch programming language (scratch.mit.edu). Students are encouraged to create interactive stories around problematic situations that might occur in the classroom (e.g., bullying). Then, using cooperative learning methods, they are asked to elaborate different options for reacting to such situations. These options are then programmed by the students using Scratch. We apply a mixed-methods approach to assess (a) the workshop's feasibility, (b) students’ acceptance of the concept, (c) the impact on students’ CT and (d) the impact on students’ problem solving in social-emotionally challenging situations. In this ongoing study, we thus use interviews and questionnaires with teachers and students, classroom observation, think aloud protocols, and screencasts for the students programming with Scratch.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 20th European Conference on e-Learning, ECEL 2021
EditorsCarsten Busch, Martin Steinicke, Regina Frieß, Tilo Wendler
PublisherAcademic Conferences and Publishing International Limited
Pages658-661
Number of pages4
ISBN (print)9781914587191
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

Publication series

SeriesProceedings of the European Conference on e-Learning, ECEL
ISSN2048-8637

Conference

Title20th European Conference on e-Learning, ECEL 2021
Duration28 - 29 October 2021
CityVirtual, Online

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-8050-4449/work/148145569
Mendeley 6515f976-8445-3e89-a8ab-d803bdc9111b

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Computational thinking, Grades 4 and 5, Programming, Scratch, Social-emotional skills