Wen-Hui Chang｜Ph.D. Candidate, National Taipei University of Education｜0805@gmail.com
Chia-Ti Wu｜Teacher, Juguang Elementary School｜charity1113s@gmail.com
Tung-Hsuan Chen｜Ph.D. Candidate, National Taipei University of Education
▌Abstract
The purpose of this study is to increase the ability of the students’ problem solving and their knowledge application with a sixteen-week programming course. The participants were 323 fourth graders from an elementary school. The experimental group received project-based instruction while the control group received traditional instruction. The data collected consist of quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data were analyzed by Chi-square test and T-test, including results of pre-test and post-test on problem-solving, questionnaire of attitude toward programming, and achievement test of programming. The qualitative data include teaching records and interview records. After the sixteen-week instruction, comparing to the control group, project-based learning benefits the experimental groups in (1) programming learning, (2) holding positive perspectives of programming, (3) solving problems actively, (4) building better abilities of executing plans, and (5) acquiring better abilities of reflection and retrieving. The present study indicates that project-based learning in programming course assists students in programming learning as well as problem-solving abilities. Furthermore, it is suggested that teachers monitor the students’ progress, guide them to confront the problems and seek solution in order to help them to transfer the skills and experiences they have learnt from the course in their daily life.
Keywords: Project-based Learning, Scratch Programming Software, Programming, Problem-solving