Online Creative Computing: report on the adaptation of a workshop for the development of Computational Thinking for children

• Thiago Barcelos Federal Institute of São Paulo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5995-4250
• Leticia Vidal Federal Institute of São Paulo
• Ana Kirchoff Federal Institute of São Paulo
• Giselle Silva Federal Institute of São Paulo

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/educomp.2023.228271

Abstract

In several initiatives the development of Computational Thinking has been organized around the concept of Creative Computing, which seeks to contextualize the development of Computational Thinking with the creation of products that have a personal connection with the learner, applying creativity and imagination skills, as well as computational concepts. This report describes the experience of reformulating in 2020 a Creative Computing workshop that had already been offered for two years using online resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the aims of the workshop were maintained, its content was organized by selecting online content, mainly related to the code.org website, associated with the production of video classes. The article describes the experience of offering the reformulated workshop to two groups between the months of June and August of 2020. The results obtained from a questionnaire applied to both classes and the analysis of the code produced by the participants are discussed. Initial difficulties with remote communication with the children were overcome by including moments of interaction with the project tutors. In addition, the presentation of the projects satisfactorily fulfilled the aims of the course, considering the complexity of the code produced by the participants.

Keywords: Computational Thinking, Online Education, Creative Computing

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