Improving Teaching and Learning Computer Programming in Schools through Educational Software

Abstract

Computer programming is the universal language of our planet and a basic literacy in the digital age. There is no doubt that learning computer programming at a young age is helpful for all students at least in their everyday life. The benefits of learning programming help young students to gain advantages in thinking, processing and communication. These benefits can support acquiring, developing and improving the 21st-century skills among youth. One of the main challenges of scientists and educational practitioners in the field is how to make computer programming attractive and interesting for the students in primary and secondary schools. The use of various educational software could have positive impact on this issue. There are many successful examples of educational software used in schools. This paper emphasizes the usefulness of Scratch, Logo, ToolKid and other similar education software tools in teaching and learning computer programming fundamentals. Some of the most important features of such tools, including immediate feedback (instant positive reinforcement), visually, block-based, text-based and object-oriented programming are explained in details. The author presents several practical examples of how the educational software tools mentioned above can improve teaching and learning computer programming.