Getting a child’s perspective on learning apps that teach programming

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how children view learning games and learning applications and games that teach programming. It is rare to find studies that have first-hand experience with children’s views on the learning of programming through learning apps and games. This study looks to fill that gap by asking children directly through a questionnaire given to a class in Finland.

Overall, the study found that the students in this study found programming favorable. Most students enjoyed programming and liked programming for a number of reasons including: to do something different, they like electronics, that there isn’t a lot of rules, can be fun, express creativity, can see what you have done on the computer, can use what you have done, like the feelings of writing something that works, and the challenge it presents. Some of the students wrote they disliked programming because it can be boring, can be too hard, and can be confusing.

Many of the students liked learning apps because they offer a different way of learning than what they usually do. They seem to like the freedom that comes from using learning apps and which differs from learning from the teacher. They liked using the devices that learning apps were on. Some of the students also said that learning apps can be fun and entertaining. Some of the things the students didn’t like about learning apps was technical issues, such as apps that crash a lot. That the learning apps sometimes don’t help. That the learning apps can be confusing. That the apps can have too many ads. Some of the students also stated that they can be boring. And some said that they can be too easy. Some of the students’ suggestions on improving in learning apps were: make them harder, to use them more, make them more fun, have less ads, learn actual code syntax, and to include language options.