Responsibility	Time	Category	Tools & Methods
UX Researcher & UI/UX Designer	4 months	Board game and Mobile app	Figma, Miro, Adobe XD, Photoshop, Google Jamboard, Illustrator, Zoom, Co-design with children, Design Thinking, User Interviews

Introduction

A growing number of ordinary objects are being designed to operate via computer programs (Hartigan 2013).21st-century skills aim to teach creativity, critical thinking, clear communication, teamwork, and effectively solving complex problems with collaboration.

Wing (2011) defined computational thinking as the thought process of finding a solution to a problem step by step, in a logical and organized manner, much like a computer. Developing a think-like-a-computer capability will benefit professionals in any field. Computational thinking includes these four major elements: problem decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithms.

Considering that we need a workforce with skills in computational thinking, how can the next generation be prepared? A way of thinking takes a lot of time to develop. For future professionals to fully master and use CT, it is crucial to introduce CT concepts to kids at an early age and help them stay involved with it throughout their academic careers.

Project Vision

In this project, I have partnered with kids from 7 - 13 years of age to devise solutions that will help them learn and apply computational thinking to everyday life. I interviewed kids to understand the challenges in the current learning methods of computational thinking.

Challenges

● The biggest challenge is that many students haven't been exposed to computational thinking early, causing difficulty understanding its concepts. Furthermore, computational thinking is a mental process, so they find it difficult to adapt.
● The second biggest challenge is that many students cannot connect CT to everyday life since they have been trained to memorize concepts just for good grades.

How Might We Questions

The following questions guided my work:
1. How might we develop a computational way of thinking in youth?
2. How might we help youth connect computational thinking concepts to real-life situations?
3. How might we build a learning platform that explains CT concepts more straightforwardly and is suitable for youth from an early age?
4. How might we create a space that promotes the learning of CT concepts through collaboration?

Together with my design partners (kids aged 7 - 13 years), I designed solutions to overcome the above challenges and create spaces that help them understand CT concepts and apply the learning to real-world scenarios through collaborative learning.

How might we help youth connect computational thinking concepts to real-life situations?

Design Process

I followed the design thinking methodology from the IDEO book for this project. It helped me untangle ambiguity, validate ideas, and structure complex problems. The process includes gathering insights about the users, prototyping ideas, and validating them.

Methodology

This study aimed to utilize the video interviewing technique to interact with youth about their experience learning computational thinking concepts in school. In doing so, we sought to explore youth's methods to learn computational thinking concepts. At the same time, the study also aimed to investigate the challenges in these methods and evaluate their effectiveness.

01 Data Collection
02 User Interviews
03 Data Analysis
04 Findings
05 Evaluation Criteria
06 Design Methodology (Co-design sessions)
07 Design Solutions
08 Solution 1 :Design Your Own Board Game
09 Solution 2: Arcade game app

Data Collection

I took on the role of the researcher and undertook the interviews. Each lasted approximately twenty minutes to thirty minutes and was conducted online using video conferencing. Guidelines for the interview were developed, focusing mainly on two themes (in addition to a set of background questions):
● Didactic practices and strategies employed when teaching computational thinking concepts, including focusing on the tools and approach used.
● To affirm if children should be introduced to CT concepts at an early age
The interviews were recorded with the interviewees' consent and were later fully transcribed. Please find the interview guide below:

Starter questions to make participants comfortable

1. Which grade do you currently hold (or are you currently enrolled in college)?
2. In which class do you excel? Why?
3. In which class do you struggle? Why?
4. Do you like college? Why or why not?
5. What were your aspirations in choosing your major/ field of study?

Questions specific about CT

1. Did you face any difficulties in recognizing patterns in problems?
2. How did you learn to separate relevant and important information from extraneous details while solving problems?
3. How were you taught algorithmic thinking at school/college?
4. Did you take any individual effort to improve algorithmic thinking?
5. Did any specific game interest you in problem-solving?
6. Do you remember how and when you were introduced to computational thinking concepts?
7. What resources did you use to improve your problem-solving skills?
8. Do you prefer working alone or with a group while solving problems?
9. Are there any examples of when you learned using the project-based learning approach?
10. Did you have any fears or anxieties before entering this? If so, what do you think caused them?
11. What approach would you use if you were asked to teach a problem-solving skill?
12. Would you have benefited from being introduced to CT earlier in school?
13. What were your parents' contributions in helping you towards improving computational thinking?
14. How do you stay connected with your child's progress towards learning computational thinking at school?
15. What kind of activities do you perform at home to teach your child's CT skills?

Participants Info

● Using interviews to collect data, I sought to capture “the user’s needs, values, and beliefs” (IDEO, 2015, p. 34).
● I used this method to ensure I was collecting the most information possible from the participants, despite some warnings regarding interviewees saying what they think the research wants to hear and doing something different than they would normally say.
● A total of 4 participants were interviewed. Among the participants, two were 20-year-olds enrolled in a STEM program. Another participant works as an engineering manager for a software company, while the last participant is a 15-year-old currently learning to program at school.

User Interviews

● According to IDEO (p. 10, 2015), “Design Thinking begins with in-depth interviews.”
● To gain a clear understanding of what kids have to say about computational thinking, I started my interview process with two participants from the STEM program.
● I chose to interview 20-year-olds majoring in STEM fields because they must know CT concepts well in order to succeed.
● In doing this, I hoped to understand their experience learning computational thinking and how it benefited their problem-solving ability.
● A follow-up interview was also conducted with each of them to determine how far they understood the major CT concepts (Decomposition, Abstraction, Pattern recognition, and algorithmic thinking).
● My third participant is a high school student who is enrolled in a program that includes an introduction to programming, so I wanted to know about her experience.
● Moreover, she has experience in learning with Scratch from her primary grades, which makes her a great candidate.
● The purpose of interviewing her is to also determine whether early exposure to CT concepts has benefitted her in her current course.
● Lastly, I chose the parent who is the engineering manager of a company as my final participant.
● It was important for me to understand how parents are involved in the learning process, and, since this person is an SME, I also wanted to understand his perspective on how CT can be applied effectively in real-life situations.

Participant 1

The first participant was a 20-year-old enrolled in a STEM program. In addition to his understanding of problem-solving, he was enthusiastic about the program. Because he wasn't taught about CT in school, he had difficulty grasping the concepts when he enrolled in the course in college. However, his understanding of CT was unclear. In his eyes, CT and coding are similar.

Participant 2

The second participant was a 21-year-old enrolled in a STEM program. During the program, he learned how to program through game-based learning. Unfortunately, he also had similar misconceptions about CT. He believed that CT could only be achieved through programming. He was unaware that he had unwittingly applied concepts from CT to his coursework and internships. These examples show that students have not understood the correct definition of CT.

Participant 3

This participant is a high school student currently studying introduction to programming. She was introduced to programming in her elementary grades through Scratch's visual programming tool. She mentioned that she has difficulty recognizing patterns in her current learning since getting her mind to work that way was difficult.

Participant 4

This participant is a parent who works as the Engineering Manager for a company. According to him, he does not have a lot of time to help his kid during his daily routine. But he firmly believes that CT concepts must be taught early to help shape kids' thinking. He believes that parents' involvement can help teach the concepts in a simple way to children from a very early age.

Rationale of Data Collection Methods

● As described previously, youth interviews were selected as the main data source because they would be the quickest and more direct manner through which I could learn what my participants understood about computational thinking.
● I chose to also interview adults, even parents or teachers who might be “experts” because I wanted to understand how involved the parents or teachers in the learning journey of the kids.
● Also, observations are important because it helps negate many types of bias and much of the subjective the interpretation that comes with researchers self-reporting “facts.”
● Basic psychology reveals that people remember and relay things in different ways.
● This method is much better than questionnaires where responses are limited to answers to predetermined questions. In this method, I was able to come up with context-specific follow-up questions based on the response of the participants.
● In the future, I would love to perform an ethnographic study where I can perform a direct observation of users in their natural environment.
● The the objective is to gain insights into how kids interact with students and parents in their the natural environment and learn computational thinking concepts.

""My high school had me memorize a set of problems and write them down on the test. We weren't taught how to approach problems."

- Anonymous engineering college student

Data Analysis

As part of the interview, careful notes were taken to document the critical points. Once the interviews were done, and the recorded interviews were transcribed for further processing.

Key findings

This case study presents the initial findings from the study of using video interviewing tools to understand the challenges in the learning methods of computational thinking. These initial findings stem from analyses of four selected interview videos as well as field notes regarding the effectiveness of the activity.

● Even students who are currently training to become engineers do not understand what computational thinking is. They have failed to realize that it is a concept that is ingrained in our day-to-day life. As a result, they keep getting confused between coding and problem-solving skills. The approach to teaching this essential skill needs to be changed. As pointed out by the interviewees, we need measures to help students understand the concept and apply it to real life rather than memorizing it just for good grades.
● Further, CT skills need to be taught early in a child's life rather than starting in high school. Also, there is a greater focus needed on improving collaboration skills. They should not see it as a competition when they work with others. Instead, they should help each other in finding efficient solutions.

Evaluation Criteria

Anything designed for kids should help them to learn and apply concepts in computational thinking to their daily lives, not just memorizing them for a test. I want the design to:
● Stress the relevance of computational thinking to real-life situations
● Be user-friendly for youth
● Encourage youth to view computational thinking as more than just programming
● Versatile enough to be used in different areas including, but not limited to, classrooms, after school activities, and homes
● Be easily comprehendible by elementary school students

Challenge 1

Many students haven't been exposed to computational thinking early, making it challenging to comprehend and adapt them.

Challenge 2

Students have not been taught to connect CT to everyday life because they have been trained to memorize concepts.

Design Methodology (co-design sessions)

After the inspiration phase, in which I interviewed kids and their current learning methods of computational thinking concepts, I identified two challenges.
● The ideation phase had two parts:
In the first design session, I aimed to generate ideas about how kids want to learn CT concepts. Based on the data collected, I created some prototypes.
● In the second design session, I reviewed those prototypes with the kids and made changes.

Design Session 1

● The first design session focused on generating ideas for teaching computational thinking to kids between ages 7 and 13.
● Because the kids were connecting from across the country, the session was conducted online.
● The design sessions were conducted with kids aged seven years, Thirteen years, 12 years, and eight years.
● I conducted the session via Zoom and obtained consent from the parents and kids to record the session.
● I also provided the kids with access to Jamboard, which was used during the design session.
● The session lasted from 50 mins to 60 mins.
● Since multiple themes emerged from the initial inspiration phase, I decided to combine two to form a refined How Might We question: How might we help children connect computational thinking with the real world at an early age?

Introduction Phase (10mins)

During this phase, I introduced myself to the participants and conducted some ice breaker activities. As an ice-breaker activity, I selected Show and Tell as a fun way to get children talking about their favorite possessions. Children were asked to bring a favorite stuffed animal that they bring everywhere they go so they can talk about it. I offered the older kids the option of bringing their favorite book if they did not have a toy which the 13-year-old kid took up. The ice-breaker activity was influential in getting the kids to start talking without feeling shy and helped me discover their favorite things as well. It allowed me to craft a puzzle with their favorite characters in mind. To get the kids to talk about their toys, I used the the following question prompts.

Puzzle-solving Phase (10mins)

During the phase, I introduced the kids to the concept of problem-solving. It consists of finding solutions to problems. A problem is a situation that needs to be changed.
As they worked on the puzzle, I asked them to think about the question of the day: What is your process for solving a problem that has been given to you? I provided the kids with the following puzzles and allowed them to take their time to complete the activity.
The kids solved the puzzles and used the Google Jamboard to reflect on their experience by writing answers on sticky notes. Some kids also sketched some of their design ideas on the jam board.

Sticky note crtiquing (20mins - 30mins)

I used the sticky notes technique for this. In this technique, I aim to evaluate the puzzle-solving activity, which would provide feedback and directions for future improvements on how I can best assist kids in learning how to solve problems (Fails et al., 2013).
Kids recorded their ideas or observations in each category on a separate sticky note. A parent or adult lent a helping hand for the children to express themselves.

Debrief (20mins - 30mins)

I saved the Jamboard and recorded the session, which helped me review how the kids performed each activity. I collected the sticky notes and examined them for patterns that indicated what areas could be emphasized in future work. I noted all the "Big Ideas" brought to light during the session.
Some of the "Big Ideas" that I got from the design session were:
1. When children are given problems or puzzles based on their favorite things, they relate to the problem much better. They love visual stimulation, and it's also helpful to have a backstory on puzzles, as it gives them the sense that they are solving a real-world problem.
2. The kids felt they preferred solving problems as a team rather than individually. They mentioned that the problem-solving activity would be more fun if they teamed up with friends. Another child's sketch shows how she prefers her friends to join the activity on their phones so that everyone can view the same screen simultaneously.
3. Another idea was to allow kids to design their puzzles so that they could both create the problem and think about various solutions, which they felt was a good strategy to improve problem-solving skills.
4. One of the kids had the idea of showing real-world applications after solving various puzzles so that they could relate what they learned.

Design Session 2

I utilized the second design session to present kids with initial prototypes of the games I designed based on the first design session. I conducted the design session with the same kids who participated in my first design session. The session was 60 minutes long, and three kids aged 7-14 participated.

Introduction Phase (10mins)

● I eliminated the introduction activity since I had the same set of kids, and we had introduced ourselves in session 1.
● As an alternative, I chose to talk to them about their day before we began. I began the session by posing the question of the day, "Would you prefer to play a given game or design your own?".
● As discussed in Beth Bonsignore's lecture (ELMS, Module 5, Lecture) and the resources provided in it (Fails et al., 2012; Poole & Peyton, 2013 in ELMS, Module 5, Lecture), the question of the day helps to transition the kids from the introduction phase of the session into the design phase.
● The goal is to introduce the kids to the session's main idea before jumping right into it.
● The children had a different set of answers. A few felt that designing their own game would make them masters and allow them to use their imagination to develop interesting games.
● On the other hand, some kids felt they preferred to play games designed by others because they had no experience designing games.
● A few kids said they would be open to it if they were provided with an instruction sheet or template to get them started.

Storyboarding Phase (10mins)

● Storyboarding (Fails, Guha & Druin, 2013) was used to present a digital mockup of the game prototypes to the children.
● I showed them the mockup on the Google Jamboard and made sure that they had access to the link in the meeting.
● In addition, I used Comicboarding since the 7-year-old had difficulty using the mouse to draw and instead described his ideas for me to illustrate (Fails et al., 2013).
● So using this method, the kids reviewed the existing sketches and illustrated their suggestions.

Sticky note evaluation (20mins - 30mins)

● I used the sticky notes technique to pose questions about the different features of the designs to the kids, which, according to Subramaniam (2016), is a straightforward process for youth to partake in.
● The sticky notes technique complemented the previous storyboarding approach because the sticky notes helped the kids talk about their likes and dislikes and draw their design ideas.
● The children were asked to use separate sticky notes for each idea (Subramaniam, 2016).
● Sticky notes seemed like the best strategy to me because I wanted the children to stay organized and provide informative feedback on the mockups I presented, and it is an an excellent strategy for participants to reflect on (Knudtzon et al., 2003).

Debrief (20mins - 30mins)

I saved the Jamboard and recorded the session, which helped me review how the kids performed each activity. After gathering the sticky notes, I examined them to identify all the "Big Ideas" and make those changes in the mockups.

"Learning is no fun, but it could be if I could play a game. Then, I would learn all day!"

Design Solutions

● I found that the children were most interested in game-based learning methods after my design sessions with them.
● Also, if this were taught in an academic setting, they would treat it as if it were schoolwork and do it out of obligation.
● When I realized this, I modified my approach and decided to design something that makes learning CT fun.
● Based on interviews, children said that learning is not fun, but it could be if they could play a game.
● The reason why games are so popular with kids is because they are used constantly.
It can also be controlled or managed by adults and includes a learning experience.

● My design for game-based learning consisted of two different solutions.
The first solution requires that students access it via technology.
● My goal was to make the solutions universal and accessible to everyone.
● Taking into account the negative impacts of technology and the limited availability of technology in remote areas, I have devised the second solution.
● In the second solution, I devised a design that can be played anywhere without any technology involvement.

Solution 1 : Arcade Game

A digital solution to learn Computational Thinking

Solution 2 : Design Your Own Board Game

An unplugged method of learning CT

Solution 1 : Arcade Game

Overview

● The arcade game utilizes the game-based learning approach predominantly.
● The focus of game-based learning is not only about designing games for students to play but to designing activities that help students learn by incrementally introducing ideas and gradually moving them toward their goals (Pho et al., 2015).
● This learning app shows a list of games that introduces various concepts of computational thinking. Before the kids start playing the puzzle-type games, they are prompted to generate their plan of problem-solving, which is an essential step in problem-solving.
● Upon successful completion of the game, they learn about the concepts they employed through a visual learning approach.
● Visual learning is a style that utilizes visual tools, such as images, graphics, colors, and maps so that students can comprehend ideas and thoughts effectively.
● This app can be used in a collaborative setting where kids connect with their friends to solve puzzles.
● In the end, they learn about where the concept will be used in the real world, which will prompt them to have structured, useful conversations.

Illustrations after Design Session 1

● This app would contain a variety of problem-solving games that would help kids master different concepts of computational thinking. This app would contain games for different age groups.
● Game-based learning appealed to me because the kids mentioned most of what they learn at school is theoretical, and they always get excited when they learn through games because it is fun.
● I also learned that it is important to customize game-based learning activities based on kids' age and interests.
● Based on the children's interests in the show and tell activity, I customized the puzzles in the design session. For instance, a girl brought her stuffed dolphin animal and shared that animals are her favorite thing.
● In the puzzle-solving phase, I provided a dog jigsaw puzzle.
● This triggered an incredibly positive response from the kid.
● All the kids confirmed that they love activities that include their favorite things.
● This idea is used in the app where kids add information about their likes, which will be used to customize puzzles.
● To teach kids first to create a plan of how they are going to solve problems before starting the game, the first step before they begin the game would be to have them write down their plan.
● Once they complete the activity; they will be provided with the outcomes of the learning, and they will also, be shown sketches of where this concept will be applied in real life (visual learning).
● The mock-ups were created after the first design session.

Illustrations after Design Session 2

After my second design session, the following big ideas emerged:
● Children wanted the game to provide the ability to compete with their friends and earn coins.
● Kids wanted easy access to their favorite games.
● They also wanted an option to chat with friends from the app.

Design System & Final Designs

Typography

Open Sans is a clean and modern sans-serif typeface. It is specially designed for legibility across print, web, and mobile interfaces. It’s incredibly readable in small sizes and works great when printed in oversized letters. It’s a well-known and modern font that is being used increasingly on mobile apps and websites. Because of its simplicity, it makes my content easily readable. Since this typeface features wide apertures on many letters and a large x-height (tall lower-case letters), it stays highly legible on both large and small screens. It also helps to establish trust amongst our users when they see our brand.

Colors

As I started to create app screens and illustrations prototypes, I wanted to research how I could use color to design effectively for children. My target audience for my app is children of primary school age, particularly 9–13-year-olds. I remember being taught in year 2 of uni about how color is an essential factor in the design of any product, as it conveys a particular emotion and can therefore influence or motivate the user. I decided to look into using color when designing for children. Throughout my app, I will be using illustrations to assist with learning. This is where I can use color to keep it interesting. I wanted to choose a combination of cool and warmer colors for this project. I chose green as the primary color because it brings in a sense of calmness and comfort. It is associated with meanings of growth, relaxation, harmony, and freshness. Yellow is associated with joy, energy, happiness, confidence, positivity, light, and warmth. It’s popular in designs for children. I used colors like yellow and pink to bring cheerfulness and balance to the app. Since they are bright colors, choosing them as secondary colors prevents them from being too distracting.

Components

Final Designs