A multimodal LEGO®-based learning activity mixing musical notation and computer programming

This paper discusses a multimodal learning activity based on LEGO® bricks where elements from the domains of music and informatics are mixed. Such an experience addresses children in preschool age and students of the primary schools in order to convey some basic aspects of computational thinking. The learning methodology is organized in two phases where construction blocks are employed as a physical tool and as a metaphor for music notation, respectively. The goal is to foster in young students abilities such as analysis and re-synthesis, problem solving, abstraction and adaptive reasoning. A web application to support this approach and to provide a prompt feedback to user action is under development, and its design principles and key characteristics will be presented.

[1]  Dario Malchiodi,et al.  Extracurricular Activities for Improving the Perception of Informatics in Secondary Schools , 2014, ISSEP.

[2]  Catherine S. Jarjisian.  The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach , 1992 .

[3]  Maria Montessori,et al.  The Discovery of the Child , 1948 .

[4]  Adriano Baratè,et al.  Fostering Computational Thinking in Primary School through a LEGO®-based Music Notation , 2017, KES.

[5]  Dario Malchiodi,et al.  Is Coding the Way to Go? , 2015, ISSEP.

[6]  Dario Malchiodi,et al.  A playful tool to introduce lower secondary school pupils to recursive thinking , 2016 .

[7]  Jerome S. Bruner,et al.  Making sense: The child's construction of the world , 1987 .

[8]  Dario Malchiodi,et al.  Exploring the processing of formatted texts by a kynesthetic approach , 2012, WiPSCE.

[9]  D. Kolb,et al.  Experiential Learning Theory: Previous Research and New Directions , 2000 .

[10]  Dario Malchiodi,et al.  Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself: Introducing Recursion in Lower Secondary Schools , 2017, 2017 International Conference on Learning and Teaching in Computing and Engineering (LaTICE).

[11]  G. James,et al.  The Ecology of Human Development , 2017 .

[12]  Dario Malchiodi,et al.  Learning Greedy Strategies at Secondary Schools: An Active Approach , 2017 .

[13]  J. Bruner,et al.  Making Sense (Routledge Revivals) : The Child's Construction of the World , 2010 .

[14]  K. Nelson,et al.  Event knowledge : structure and function in development , 1986 .

[15]  A. Gopnik.  The Scientist as Child , 1996, Philosophy of Science.

[16]  Dario Malchiodi,et al.  Informatics Education in Italian Secondary Schools , 2014, TOCE.

[17]  Joaquim A. Jorge,et al.  Improving participation and learning with gamification , 2013, Gamification.

[18]  Adriano Baratè,et al.  Fostering Computational Thinking in Secondary School through Music - An Educational Experience based on Google Blockly , 2017, CSEDU.

[19]  R. Mayer,et al.  Interactive Multimodal Learning Environments , 2007 .

[20]  C. Hmelo‐Silver.  Problem-Based Learning: What and How Do Students Learn? , 2004 .