(1) What is your essential question and answers? What is your best answer and why?
My essential question is; How can a computer programmer best create a program designed to teach kindergartners problem solving? And my answers are by making the program engaging and fun so that students remain focused while learning, using simplified versions of syntax that younger students can understand, and effective subject integration through common core standards.
(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
Arriving at these answers was not a simple process, and some of them were not the most obvious answers. Through many research articles on the teaching of children using computer programming and interpreting results, and also interviewing programmers, a parent, and a teacher about the important factors they have noticed are needed. Through
my research, these three answers kept showing up.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
I faced the problem that the studies of programming used in classrooms being limited in terms of the languages used. There are not a lot of languages used for children this young and also, testing of the implementation in classes other than math and science are not as widely tested and had less reliable questions.
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
My essential question is; How can a computer programmer best create a program designed to teach kindergartners problem solving? And my answers are by making the program engaging and fun so that students remain focused while learning, using simplified versions of syntax that younger students can understand, and effective subject integration through common core standards.
(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
Arriving at these answers was not a simple process, and some of them were not the most obvious answers. Through many research articles on the teaching of children using computer programming and interpreting results, and also interviewing programmers, a parent, and a teacher about the important factors they have noticed are needed. Through
my research, these three answers kept showing up.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
I faced the problem that the studies of programming used in classrooms being limited in terms of the languages used. There are not a lot of languages used for children this young and also, testing of the implementation in classes other than math and science are not as widely tested and had less reliable questions.
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
Fessakis, G., E. Gouli, and E. Mavroudi. "Problem Solving By 5–6 Years Old Kindergarten Children In A Computer Programming Environment: A Case Study." Computers & Education 63.(2013): 87-97. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.
Horn, Michael, R. Crouser, and Marina Bers. "Tangible Interaction And Learning: The Case For A Hybrid Approach." Personal & Ubiquitous Computing 16.4 (2012): 379-389. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.
