Shaping the Experience of Public Computing Using Physical Blocks

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: Manipulatives, Movement, and Games as Informal Learning Strategies

Abstract

In public computing environments, visitors work together with facilitators to both understand and “hack” open-source simulations of complex phenomena. However, these interactions are about more than the computer code. A phenomenological approach to computational thinking argues that computational thinking is an experience that includes material, virtual, and embodied interactions. In this paper, we present an analysis of how visitors and facilitators used designed physical blocks at a public computing environment called Hack the Flock. We show that the blocks helped visitors understand code concepts. We also highlight that facilitators may inadvertently position these blocks in ways that constrain how visitors experience computing. Educational designers must consider the ways in which objects, facilitation, and code work together in public computing environments.

Authors

• Stephanie Hladik, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Basak Helvaci Ozacar, University of Calgary

• Marie-Claire Shanahan, University of Calgary

• Pratim Sengupta, University of Calgary