Tangible programming in early childhood: Revisiting developmental assumptions through new technologies

这个项目的重点是小学早期的计算机编程和机器人，重点是幼儿园。目标是根据新的人机交互技术，了解什么是适合幼儿发展的，这些技术提供了更多适合年龄的技术。该建议的核心是，由于各种原因，现代图形用户界面（GUI）不适合在小学早期使用，特别是用于计算机编程活动。该项目建议以新兴的有形用户界面（TUI）技术为基础，为幼儿创造一种有形的编程语言。也就是说，孩子们不再使用鼠标或键盘编写程序来控制机器人，而是通过连接像拼图一样的智能木块来构建程序。本着类似的精神，该项目建议将机器人重新设想为一种活动，这种活动与用昂贵而复杂的部件（如乐高积木）建造机器人的关系不大，而与用工艺品和回收材料建造艺术作品的关系更大。在三年的时间里，该项目将建立在现有研究的基础上，开发新技术和一个互补的幼儿园机器人课程。此外，它还将制定研究方案和实验任务，以研究儿童。S在这个域中学习。然后，该项目将在四个幼儿园教室中评估技术和课程的有效性。

The focus of this project is on computer programming and robotics in early elementary school, with an emphasis on kindergarten. The goal is to understand what is developmentally appropriate for young children in light of novel human-computer interaction techniques that provide more age-appropriate access to technology. At the heart of this proposal is the claim that, for a variety of reasons, modern graphical user interfaces (GUI) are ill-suited for use in early elementary school, especially for computer programming activities. This project proposes to build on emerging tangible user interface (TUI) technology to create a tangible programming language for young children. That is, rather than using a mouse or a keyboard to write programs to control robots, children will instead construct programs by connecting smart wooden blocks shaped like jigsaw puzzle pieces. In a similar spirit, the project proposes to re-envision robotics as an activity having less to do with constructing robots out of expensive and intricate parts (such as LEGOs) and more to do with constructing artistic creations out of arts and crafts goods and recycled materials. Over the course of three years, the project will build on existing research to develop novel technology and a complementary kindergarten robotics-based curriculum. In addition, it will develop a research protocol and experimental tasks in order to study children?s learning in this domain. The project will then evaluate the effectiveness of both the technology and the curriculum in four kindergarten classrooms.