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Challenge and creativity: using .NET gadgeteer in schools

Published: 08 November 2012 Publication History

Abstract

This paper reports on a study carried out in secondary schools in the UK with students learning to use .NET Gadgeteer, a rapid prototyping platform for building small electronic devices [32]. A case study methodology has been used. Some of the students involved in this four-month-long project had some prior background in computer programming whereas for others this was completely new. The teaching materials provided a two-phase model of learning: an instruction phase followed by a creative phase, the latter utilising a bricolage approach to learning programming [30]. The aim of the pilot was to generate an interest in building devices and stimulate creativity. The research found that the tangible nature of the .NET Gadgeteer modules helped to engage the students in becoming creative, and that students valued challenges with which they were not usually presented within the curriculum.

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cover image ACM Other conferences
WiPSCE '12: Proceedings of the 7th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education
November 2012
168 pages
ISBN:9781450317870
DOI:10.1145/2481449
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

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Publication History

Published: 08 November 2012

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Author Tags

  1. .NET gadgeteer
  2. bricolage
  3. computer programming
  4. creativity
  5. high schools
  6. secondary education

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WIPSCE '12
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  • Universität Hamburg

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WiPSCE '12 Paper Acceptance Rate 9 of 28 submissions, 32%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 104 of 279 submissions, 37%

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  • (2024)Affordances of Technology for Sustainability-Oriented K–12 Informal Engineering EducationSustainability10.3390/su1616671916:16(6719)Online publication date: 6-Aug-2024
  • (2024)A Physical Computing Workshop to Engage Girls from Low-Income BackgroundsCompanion Proceedings of the 2024 Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces10.1145/3696762.3698039(1-3)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
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  • (2021)Preparing undergraduate students to support K-12 computer science teaching through school-university partnerships: reflections from the fieldComputer Science Education10.1080/08993408.2021.197043533:1(3-28)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2021
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