Physical computing in computer science education

Until recently, software development dominated the creative and design-oriented parts of computer science education. Within the last years, more and more approaches have also focused on using programmable hardware in different settings, mostly concentrating on alternative ways for introducing their learners to programming. The frequent development of new settings and also tools for physical computing demands a deeper investigation of the discipline in the context of computer science education. In this poster, hypotheses and questions guiding the work for examining the potentials of physical computing activities for computer science education are outlined and discussed.