Perceptions of Scratch Programming among Secondary School Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Scratch programming was designed with the aim of helping students to develop their logical thinking skills as well as enhancing their problem-solving capabilities, without having the technical distractions associated with more advanced programming languages such as Java. This study, guided by the te...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
LINK Centre, School of Literature Language and Media (SLLM)
2018-11-01
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| Series: | The African Journal of Information and Communication |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10539/26112 |
| _version_ | 1828847671406755840 |
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| author | Mudaray Marimuthu Predhayen Govender |
| author_facet | Mudaray Marimuthu Predhayen Govender |
| author_sort | Mudaray Marimuthu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Scratch programming was designed with the aim of helping students to develop their logical thinking skills as well as enhancing their problem-solving capabilities, without having the technical distractions associated with more advanced programming languages such as Java. This study, guided by the technology acceptance model (TAM), focused on exploring the associations between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude towards use, and behavioural intention to use the Scratch programming language, with the aim of identifying how Scratch programming was perceived by a group of South African students in Grades 10 and 11 at two high schools. Results indicated, among other things, that Grade 10 students perceived Scratch to be easy to use and useful, and Grade 11 students found it to be easy to use but useful only in learning introductory programming concepts. These and other findings suggest that while Scratch helps students understand logic and problem-solving, it does not assist sufficiently in preparing them for using a higher-level programming language such as Java. The article concludes with recommendations for South African education policymakers, including proposals that a bridging programming language be introduced between Scratch and Java, and that Scratch be introduced much earlier than in Grade 10. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T22:14:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c2a744f1d9a24d7ab09716a81227f1a6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-7205 2077-7213 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T22:14:54Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | LINK Centre, School of Literature Language and Media (SLLM) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The African Journal of Information and Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-c2a744f1d9a24d7ab09716a81227f1a62022-12-22T00:10:08ZengLINK Centre, School of Literature Language and Media (SLLM)The African Journal of Information and Communication2077-72052077-72132018-11-01215180https://doi.org/10.23962/10539/26112Perceptions of Scratch Programming among Secondary School Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South AfricaMudaray Marimuthuhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2470-6660Predhayen Govenderhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9409-4313Scratch programming was designed with the aim of helping students to develop their logical thinking skills as well as enhancing their problem-solving capabilities, without having the technical distractions associated with more advanced programming languages such as Java. This study, guided by the technology acceptance model (TAM), focused on exploring the associations between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude towards use, and behavioural intention to use the Scratch programming language, with the aim of identifying how Scratch programming was perceived by a group of South African students in Grades 10 and 11 at two high schools. Results indicated, among other things, that Grade 10 students perceived Scratch to be easy to use and useful, and Grade 11 students found it to be easy to use but useful only in learning introductory programming concepts. These and other findings suggest that while Scratch helps students understand logic and problem-solving, it does not assist sufficiently in preparing them for using a higher-level programming language such as Java. The article concludes with recommendations for South African education policymakers, including proposals that a bridging programming language be introduced between Scratch and Java, and that Scratch be introduced much earlier than in Grade 10.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/26112scratchjavasecondary school studentstechnology acceptance model (tam)programming language adoptionvisual programminglogical thinkingproblem-solvingeducationeducation policycurriculumkwazulu-natalsouth africa |
| spellingShingle | Mudaray Marimuthu Predhayen Govender Perceptions of Scratch Programming among Secondary School Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa The African Journal of Information and Communication scratch java secondary school students technology acceptance model (tam) programming language adoption visual programming logical thinking problem-solving education education policy curriculum kwazulu-natal south africa |
| title | Perceptions of Scratch Programming among Secondary School Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_full | Perceptions of Scratch Programming among Secondary School Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Perceptions of Scratch Programming among Secondary School Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceptions of Scratch Programming among Secondary School Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_short | Perceptions of Scratch Programming among Secondary School Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| title_sort | perceptions of scratch programming among secondary school students in kwazulu natal south africa |
| topic | scratch java secondary school students technology acceptance model (tam) programming language adoption visual programming logical thinking problem-solving education education policy curriculum kwazulu-natal south africa |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10539/26112 |
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