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The Foundations of Collaborative Programming by Elementary-Aged Children

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Perspectives on Digitally-Mediated Team Learning

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Abstract

Until recently, collaborative programming in elementary contexts largely involved traditional one-computer pair programming, more commonly used in industry and university settings. This chapter outlines the historical background of traditional pair programming and if and how its use with elementary-aged children holds as much promise. We then explore alternative paradigms, which generally include the addition of a second computer; we call this configuration two-computer pair programming. Harnessing the advances in programming applications that permit synchronized collaboration, we then report on our work with both one- and two-computer pair programming in block-based programming environments. We conclude by providing a summary of student experiences and opinions on the one- and two-computer studies, and a set of actionable guidelines for practitioners who would like to implement these different collaborative paradigms in their elementary computer science lessons and digitally mediated team learning (DMTL) researchers who will develop support features in these types of environments.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Jessica Vandenberg & Zarifa Zakaria

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Jennifer Tsan

  3. Computer Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Collin Lynch

  4. Computer & Information Science & Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Kristy Elizabeth Boyer

  5. STEM Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Eric Wiebe

Authors
  1. Jessica Vandenberg
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  2. Jennifer Tsan
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  3. Zarifa Zakaria
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  4. Collin Lynch
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  5. Kristy Elizabeth Boyer
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  6. Eric Wiebe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jessica Vandenberg .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Learning Sciences and Educational Research, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Laurie O. Campbell

  2. Learning Sciences and Educational Research, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Richard Hartshorne

  3. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Ronald F. DeMara

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Vandenberg, J., Tsan, J., Zakaria, Z., Lynch, C., Boyer, K.E., Wiebe, E. (2021). The Foundations of Collaborative Programming by Elementary-Aged Children. In: Campbell, L.O., Hartshorne, R., DeMara, R.F. (eds) Perspectives on Digitally-Mediated Team Learning. Educational Communications and Technology: Issues and Innovations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77614-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77614-5_4

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-77614-5

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