From Scratch to Real Programming

From Scratch to “Real” Programming MICHAL ARMONI, ORNI MEERBAUM-SALANT, and MORDECHAI BEN-ARI,

mediated transfer      bridging: help students make connections to prior learning situations      hugging: construct problems that parallel prior problems

Bruner’s spiral curriculum sequence of learning stages:      —Enactive: Manipulating concrete objects      —Iconic: Manipulating images of objects      —Symbolic: Manipulating representations of objects

Although students recognized concepts, they often did so only in the form that they had encountered them in Scratch. For example, during the previous episode where the Scratch students recognized variables, they explained variables as a means for counting points in a game.

The Scratch students rapidly learned to use typed variables and different control structures, showing that the restricted interpretations were not persistent and were quickly overcome.