Academic Benefits and Far Transfer Effects

of Learning to Code with Scratch

Lauren Wei

May 6, 2019

Intern/Mentor GT

Ms. Ireland

Mentor: Eric Chang

0
Abstract:

As computer science becomes more and more involved in today’s world, education in

computer programming becomes increasingly significant. This paper addresses the academic

benefits and positive far transfer effects of learning to program with Scratch on students’ literacy,

mathematical, and problem-solving skills. Through meta-analysis of a series of four studies, the

researcher examines Scratch’s influences on three specific cognitive skills, literacy,

mathematical, and problem-solving skills. Although to differing degrees, experiments have

proven positive effects of learning to program on the denoted cognitive skills. Programming

improves students’ literacy on constructing logical sentences. It also encourages systematic

approach and breaking down of problems to achieve solutions. In addition, reinforcement of

mathematical concepts and problem design in Scratch also helps improve students’ mathematical

and problem-solving skills. The purpose of this study is to gain public awareness on the benefits

of learning to program and to express the importance of implementing computer science in the

education system.

0
Introduction:

As technology continues to revolutionize the modern world, the importance of learning to

program becomes a hotly discussed topic. Of particular interest are the positive effects of

programming and how these impacts could transfer to situations outside of coding. While there

are many research studies focusing on the benefits of learning to program, a concrete link

between coding with Scratch and its impact on children’s real-life academic performances has

not been directly established. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the far transfer effects of

learning to program using Scratch on academic situations outside of computer programming and

on different cognitive skills, including literacy, mathematical, and problem-solving skills. Many

established research studies have supported the fact that learning to code using Scratch would

result in positive far transfer effects. This paper will present how positive transfer effects of

learning to program with Scratch exist and how they have impacts on tasks accessing literacy,

mathematical, and problem-solving skills.

Background:

Scratch is a visual programming language created by MIT lifelong kindergarten group. It

is intended to promote computer programming education and to provide coding experience for

children. By snapping together blocks of codes, children can easily create stories, games, or

videos of their own. The increasing popularity of Scratch has prompted tremendous interest in

analyzing its positive effects on children’s cognitive development. This research will focus on its

far transfer effects, which are changes in domains of cognition caused by changes in a separate

domain of different ability or process (Chooi & Thompson, 2012). Such far transfer effects show

whether computer programming training improves performance in situations that share sub-skills

1
but do not directly relate to programming. Hence, assessing the far transfer effects of Scratch

would provide insights into its benefits in literacy, mathematical, and problem-solving skills.

Review of Literature:

Far transfer is the transfer of skills and knowledge that is applied under conditions of

change (“IGI Global,” n.d.). Far transfer effects take place when learners apply the skills and

knowledge that they have learned to new situations. Hence, it is reasonable to say that skills

acquired in a learning situation can possibly be transferred and applied to other situations that

also use such skills. Arguments support that far transfer effects of computer programming exist

in situations that share sub-skills with programming. Programming skills and problem-solving

are intertwined and share many common sub-skills that are necessary to successfully solve tasks

in respective domains (Scherer, Siddiq, & Viveros, 2018). For instance, computer programming

skills requires skills such as abstracting, problem decomposition that are also crucial for

problem-solving. Such commonalities between programming skills and problem-solving show

that positive transfer effects among the two is highly possible (Scherer, 2016). In addition to the

possible ground for far transfer between computer programming and problem-solving, research

also identifies two major commonalities between programming skills and mathematical skills.

The commonalities of problem-solving and modeling suggest that far transfer effects between

programming and mathematical skills are possible (Scherer, Siddiq, & Viveros, 2018).

Furthermore, as presented in the research, there are other cognitive skills that share important

sub-skills with programming, and this provides the ground for far transfer effect to exist.

The overlapping of sub-skills between programming and cognitive skills such as literacy,

mathematical, and problem-solving skills suggest that far transfer effects are likely to take place.

However, variations in the strength of far transfer effects do exist, and such far transfer effects of

2
programming apply differently from situation to situation. A possible justification for this is that

while many cognitive skills overlap with programming skills, this does not promise the

transferability of learning to code to all related cognitive skills. In addition, each cognitive skill

relates to programming to different degrees, and the strength of their commonalities and shared

sub-skills might vary. Hence, cognitive skills are impacted to different degrees by the far transfer

effects of programming. For example, positive transfer effects on situations assessing creative

thinking, mathematical skills, and meta-cognition are found to be the strongest, while school

achievement and literacy presented smaller transfer effects (Scherer, Siddiq, &Viveros, 2018).

As one of the most critical cognitive skills regarding to school achievement and

performances, literacy is often a topic of discussion. While some research found that far transfer

effects of programming on literacy are not as significant as widely believed, other supporting

evidence buttresses the transferability between programming and literacy. The first-hand support

comes from the designers and creators of Scratch. As written in many documents and handbooks,

design and features imbedded in Scratch are intended to promote literacy in users when they are

writing codes in Scratch. In the book, Scratch Beginner 2.0 Guide, the author describes how

Scratch projects are often in terms of storytelling and expressing ideas through visual programs.

By implementing narratives and characters to create stories, children would be able to express

themselves in these projects (Badger, 2014). Such story-based features of Scratch train students’

creative writing and allow them to get familiar with words, vocabularies, and even grammatical

structures. The design of ScratchJr also echoes with the purposeful features in Scratch and the

intention to promote literacy. As described in the methods of prototype refinements, researchers

are in the process of collecting data of pre- and post- assessments on literacy and mathematical

skills with intervention of ScratchJr activities to improve the design of ScratchJr. This shows that

3
the developers strongly value the far transfer effects of programming on other cognitive skills

and are using its effectiveness on these cognitive skills as guidelines to improve the design of

ScratchJr. To reinforce the learning of reading and writing in ScratchJr, the developers designed

the programming script to run from left to right, which bolsters the concept of written English. In

addition, the coding blocks use text to explain their functions, thus children have to recognize the

words in order to read and understand scripts (Flannery, Kazakoff, Bonta, Silverman, Bers,

Resnick, 2013). Although these features do not directly verify the existence or the intensity of

the far transfer effects of programming on literacy, they show that the transferability to literacy

can be expected and that additional investigation into the relationship between learning to code

with Scratch and improvement in literacy is noteworthy.

In addition to the fundamental designs of Scratch, assessments on how learning to

program can improve literacy also provide promising support. The assessments used school

achievements and standardized tests as measurements. In the meta-analysis that Scherer, Siddiq,

and Viveros (2018) present, they did not see any significant transfer effect on literacy through

the training of programming. Their explanation to this was that “school achievement was

assessed by distal measures, such as grades or subject-specific tests—measures that tap subject

specific knowledge next to generic skills” (Scherer, Siddiq, &Viveros, 2018, p.20). Since the

assessments were based on school achievement and standardized testing, they were not specific

to measuring the ability of literacy, and thus did not show a positive correlation between learning

to code and literacy. They also observed that literacy was largely based on the measurements of

comprehensive reading and writing skills. Unlike the intentions of Scratch’s design, which were

to promote a sense of familiarity with writing and word recognition, reading comprehension and

4
writing skills require higher-level cognitive skills and overlap only marginally with

programming skills (Scherer, Siddiq, &Viveros, 2018).

As highly valuable skills in academic achievement, especially in STEM subjects,

mathematical skills are also subject to a lot of attention from educators and parents. Supporting

evidence and experiments are in favor of relatively strong positive far transfer effects on

mathematical skills from learning to program. The research was designed to discover the relation

between computational thinking and positive impacts on students’ mathematical skills. The

experimental group consisted of 24 sixth grade students, and a three-month intervention of

Scratch was presented. The experimental group received training on using Scratch. Starting from

learning sequences of processes, interacting with Scratch programming environment,

understanding concepts of loops, conditionals, and variables, and creating their own programs,

the participating students received eloquent training to develop computational thinking (Calao,

Moreno, Leon, Correa, & Robles, 2015). Both the experimental and control groups were given

pre-test to examine students’ abilities in modeling real world situations, reasoning, solving

problems, and executing algorithms. After the intervention was given to the experimental group,

both groups received the test again. The results of the pre-tests were really similar. However,

after the intervention of introducing Scratch, the experimental group had a mean score

significantly higher than the control group (Calao et al., 2015). As a result, the experiment

successfully found a relation between the development of computational thinking obtained from

training in Scratch and students’ performance in math.

Multiple experiments also observed the use of mathematical skills in

programming and how learning to program could increase students’ mathematical skills. First,

5
Calder (2010) presented improvement in mathematical skills in the sixth grade student game-

designing projects with Scratch. Through a research project of letting a group of sixth grade

students design a game to enhance number understanding, researchers observed students

implementing geometry and measurement ideas into their programs. For example, some students

used the x-y coordinates to specify the position of objects, and some used the concept of angle to

flip, rotate, or place characters in their programs (Calder, 2010). The behavior of modeling

problems was also seen through the designing and modification of the students’ games. The

students had to first understand the Scratch programming environment, come up with a design of

game, and then worked their way through iterations of action to try to match their program with

their designs. The research shows the reinforcement of mathematical skills in Scratch and how

students actively engaged with such skills in the process of code-writing. The CISTI 13th

Conference on Information Systems and Technologies also presented computer programming as

a tool to improve mathematical skills. In the conference, researchers proposed the hypothesis that

the learning of programming skills could positively affect students’ ability to learn certain

mathematics subjects. The experiment presented in the conference included around a hundred

students from elementary school. Students were asked to think about a math problem

corresponding to their math level, create a plan for solving the problem, and use computer

programming to apply the plan in Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) such as Scratch,

Minecraft Education, and so on. The experiment examined if computer programming could

facilitate students’ abilities in solving math problems through methodical ways of understanding

different parts of a problem and relating them to form a solution (“Computer programming as a

tool to improve mathematics skills in basic education”, 2018). Although the experiment was

ongoing, the expected result of the experiment was that students would be able to better connect

6
mathematical concepts and to solve math problems by implementing their plans in programming

environment.

Interrelated to many different fields of study, problem-solving skills are essential not only

to students, but also professionals in their respective fields. Supports for far transfer effects on

problem-solving skills were found across numerous studies. In the research, Oluk (2016)

presented the argument that improvement in Scratch programming skills was positively

correlated to students’ level of computational thinking, which includes skills such as creativity,

logical and critical thinking, and problem solving. The study compared the scores students

received on their projects developed using Scratch programming language and the scores they

obtained from the Computational Thinking Level Scale, which assesses students’ computational

thinking skills (Oluk, 2016). A group of 31 students received training for six weeks on Scratch

programming and were asked to generate programming projects at the end of the training. The

projects were then scored by Dr. Scratch Web Tool, which assessed the projects with

programming concepts such as abstraction, synchronization, parallelism, and logic (Oluk, 2016).

At the same time, the students were also assessed by the Computational Thinking Level Scale.

The result suggests that the level of programming skills and computational thinking present a

positive correlation. This means that improvement in programming skills will result in

improvement in computational thinking, or that improvement in computational thinking will

result in improvement in programming skills. As noted in the study, problem-solving was

assessed as part of computational thinking. Hence, a positive correlation between problem-

solving skills and programming can possibly be inferred.

7
 While it is suggested that there is a correlation between programming and problem-

solving skills, another study observed children’s interaction with programming and how it

trained children to solve problems through systematic thinking and strategy creation. Anzoategui,

Pereira, and Carmen (2017) conducted research to observe how children created strategies to

approach the given objective and to measure the time and number of errors made during the

process. Each student was given a cubetto map, which is the interacting ground for a visual

programming robot, and a set of instructions, telling students which point the robot should get to

and what obstacles should be avoided. The results showed that the activity was completed in four

to five minutes for most of the children and an average of zero to one mistake was made. The

children were able to create their own strategy and through systemic thinking, used code-by-code

programming to revise and observe each code (Anzoategui, Pereira, & Carmen, 2017). Although

the research does not provide the causal relation between learning to program and improving

problem-solving skills, it shows that problem-solving is an indivisible part of programming and

that writing codes train children with creating strategy and solving problems.

In addition, two similar experiments used pre- and post- tests to examine the effect of

learning to program on students’ problem-solving skills. The first study was conducted in an

attempt to find out the effect of teaching code.org, an online learning platform for coding, on

students’ reflective thinking skills towards problem solving. The quantitative measurement of the

study is collected from pre- and post- test through the Reflective Thinking Skill Scale Toward

Problem Solving and the examination of students’ performances on code.org (Kalelioglu, 2015).

The qualitative data was collected from group interviews of the students and reflection paper

from the teacher. The results show that there is no difference between pre- and post- test scores

of students’ reflective thinking skills toward problem solving (Kalelioglu, 2015). However,

8
interview answers reveal that most students think positively about learning to code on the site

and believe that they have gained knowledge about computer programming and problem-solving

skills. The second study investigated the effect learning to code using Scratch has on students’

problem solving skills and students’ attitude towards computer programming. Quantitative data

includes pre-test and post-test of the problem solving inventory while qualitative data consists of

observation of the students and group interviews. The result of the research shows that there was

no increase in students’ problem solving skills from comparing the mean scores of pre-test and

post-test, although an insignificant increase in students’ self-confident in their problem solving

skills did exist (Kalelioglu & Gulbahar, 2014). Through the group interview, however, the

students showed great interest in programming and most of them wanted to learn more in depth

in the field. Observations showed that most students tried many different ways of approach to

program, and while 50% of the students had difficulty completing the programming tasks, others

did not. The two experiments do not directly support the causal effect of programming on

problem-solving skills, but it is worth noting that learning to program increases students’

confidence in solving problems and stimulates their interest in programming as well as solving

programming tasks.

Research Methods and Data Collection:

What are the academic benefits and far transfer effects of learning to program using

Scratch? To support the hypothesis that learning to code with Scratch will result in positive far

transfer effects on problem-solving skills, literacy, and mathematical skills, meta-analysis of four

experimental studies was conducted. The first study addresses the how learning to code with

Scratch could improve students’ problem-solving skills. The experiment investigates how

teaching programming through Scratch affects 5th and 6th grade students’ problem solving skills.

9
Utilizing an explanatory design, researchers introduced Scratch to a group of 226 students

through an eleven-week course and collected data through pre-test and post-test of the problem-

solving skills scale as well as interviews. The results showed that there was statistically

significant difference between the students’ pre-test and post-test scores and interviews showed

that students have engaged in complex problem solving steps throughout the process of

designing games. The second study provides further support for Scratch’s positive transfer

effects of problem-solving skills. The study uses quasi-experimental design with subjects of 130

6th grade students. The experimental group received training in Scratch where teachers

introduced basic operations in the initial stage, demonstrated examples, and then let the students

create their own programs through series of problem solving. The control group received Adobe

Flash training with a similar teaching model of the experimental group. Both groups took the

pre-test and post-test of logical reasoning test and problem-solving inventory. The results

indicate that students who received training in Scratch improved their problem-solving skills on

reason of predicting and total measurement (ICECE, 2011). The third study addresses visual

programming language’s far transfer effect on literacy. The subjects of the experiment were

eighteen classes of 4th grade students which were assigned to either an experimental or control

group. Both groups received teaching on the same topics over a 10-week period. While the

control group learned through traditional teaching methods, the experimental group developed

computer games related to the topics using a game development shell. The results show that

students in the experimental group had improved performance on literacy, especially in

constructing logical sentences. The fourth study addresses the far transfer effects of Scratch on

mathematical and problems-solving skills. This study was conducted through a semi-

experimental study using pre-test and post-test where 75 first-year university students were

10
divided among two experimental groups and one control group. The experimental groups

received training on visual programming language Scratch and Lego Mindstorms Ev3,

respectively, while the control group received training on traditional programming language C++.

All three groups received pre-test and post-test through academic achievement test, logical-

mathematical skills scale, and problem-solving skills inventory. The results show that students

who received Scratch training had a more significant improvement on their logical mathematical

skills.

Results and Data Analysis:

Article #1 Article #2 Article #3 Article #4

(Vatansever & (ICECE, 2011) (Owston, (Korkmaz, 2016)
Baltaci, 2018) Wideman, Ronda &
Brown, 2009)

Purpose of the investigate how examine the investigate the investigate the effect
study teaching effects of effect of computer of Scratch and Lego
programming visualized game Mindstorms Ev3
through Scratch programming development on programming
affects 5th and on Problem students’ activities on
6th grade solving skills of traditional reading academic
students’ 6th graders by and writing skills achievement,
problem solving utilizing as well as digital problem solving, and
skills Scratch as a literacy skills logical mathematical
learning thinking skills of
interface students

Methods ( who Method: Method: quasi- Method: Method: semi-

were the explanatory experimental experiment experimental, pretest-
participants/subj design design Participants: posttest study
ects, etc.) Participants: Participants: eighteen classes Participants:75 first-
A group of 226 130 6th grade of grade 4 year university
5th and 6th students students students
graders Exp. group: 96 Exp. group: 126 Exp. group I: 20
Control group: Control group: Exp. group II: 24
34 186 Control group: 24

11
how was the The students Exp. group: Exp. group: Over a six-week
study conducted were introduced received developed period
to Scratch game training in computer games Exp. group I:
design over Scratch where related to the unit Scratch-based game
eleven weeks for teachers using a game activities
two course- introduced development shell Exp. group II: Lego
hours per week. basic Control group: Mindstorms Ev3-
operations, studied the based design
demonstrated same curriculum activities
examples, and unit with exp. Control group: C++
ask them to group over 10 editor-based teaching
create their own weeks activities( traditional
programs teaching)
Control group:
received same
teaching model
on Adobe Flash

Results (what Students have Programming Engaging in Lego had more

conclusions did improved their through Scratch computer game positive effects on
the researchers problem-solving has a significant developments students’ problem
draw) skills through and positive improved solving skills, while
programming effect on students’ ability Scratch had more
positive effects on
games in Scratch students’ in constructing logical mathematical
problem logical sentences. skills. (Both better than
solving skills. traditional teaching)

Which part of Improvement on Improvement on Improvement on Improvement on

the hypothesis Problem-solving Problem-solving literacy mathematical skills
does the skills skills and problem-solving
research skills
supports

Conclusions/ The study The study proves Although the The study shows
Limitations supports the visual programming computer game strong advantages of
hypothesis that language like development shell visual programming
visual Scratch’s advantage does not fully language such as
programming over other represent visual Scratch and Lego. It
language computer-involving programming also buttresses the
training has programs. It also hypothesis that visual
language, it still
positive effect supports the programming language
on problem- hypothesis of provides a similar helps students with
solving skills. improved problem- concept of how improving problem-
solving skills using such tools solving and
through can promote mathematical skills.
programming. literacy.

12
Discussion/Conclusion:

The meta-analysis of the four studies provides support for the hypothesis that learning to

code using Scratch renders positive far transfer effects on tasks involving literacy, mathematical,

and problem-solving skills. One limitation of the meta-analysis was that study on how Scratch

improves students’ literacy could not be found. Hence, experiment of visual programming

language’s positive transfer effect on literacy was used as a substitute. However, the academic

benefits and improvements in cognitive skills of learning to programming can still be seen

through the analysis. For instance, the first study implies how visual programming language such

as Scratch encourages logical sentence construction, familiarity with grammar structures, and

creative writing skills. It also improves students’ mathematical skills and problem-solving skills.

Scratch trains students with systematic and logical thinking and encourages them to engage in

creative thinking to look at problems from different perspectives in order to arrive at the best

solutions. In addition, learning to program also increases students’ interests and confidence in

solving problems on their own and utilizing newly learned concepts to create programs through

creative means. While computer science is not well implemented in many education systems or

viewed as crucial compared to traditional learning styles, the academic benefits of learning to

program mentioned in this paper should raise the awareness of society, especially that of

educators and parents, on the importance of computer science education. Integrating

programming and computer science in schools and encouraging children to start coding at an

early age are crucial steps in reaping these positive impacts of learning to code.

13
 References

Anzoátegui, L. G. C., Pereira, M. I. A. R., del Carmen Solís Jarrín, M. (2017) Cubetto

for preschoolers: Computer programming code to code. International Symposium on

Computers in Education (SIIE), 1-5.

Badger, M. (2014, April 15) Scratch 2.0 Beginner’s Guide (Updated). Retrieved from

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umbc/reader.action?docID=1593848&query=

Calao, L. A., Moreno-Leon, J., Correa, H. E., Robles, G. (2015). Developing mathematical

thinking with Scratch: an experiment with 6th grade students. EC-TEL 2015, 17-27.

Calder, N. (2010). Using Scratch: an integrated problem-solving approach to mathematical

thinking. APMC, 15(4), 9-14. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ906680.pdf

Chooi, W.-T., Thompson, L. A. (2012). Working memory training does not improve intelligence

in healthy young adults. Intelligence, 40(6), 531-542.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2012.07.004

Computer programming as a tool to improve mathematics skills in basic education. (2018). 2018

13th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), Information

Systems and Technologies (CISTI), 2018 13th Iberian Conference On, 1. https://doi-org.proxy-

bc.researchport.umd.edu/10.23919/CISTI.2018.8399192

Flannery, L., Kazakoff, E., Bonta, P., Silverman, B., Bers, M. Resnick, M. (2013). Designing

ScratchJr: support for early childhood learning through computer programming. IDC.

https://sites.tufts.edu/devtech/files/2018/02/scratchjr_idc_2013.pdf

IGI Global. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2019, from https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/far-

transfer/10921

14
Kalelioglu, F. (2015). A new way of teaching programming skills to K-12 students: Code.org.

Computers in Human Behavior, 52, 200-210.

Kalelioglu, F. Gulbahar, Y. (2014). The effects of teaching programming via scratch on problem

solving skills: a discussion from learners’ perspective. Information in Education, 13(1), 33-50.

Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1064285.pdf

Korkmaz, Ö. (2016). The Effect of Scratch- and Lego Mindstorms Ev3-Based Programming Activities on

Academic Achievement, Problem-Solving Skills and Logical-Mathematical Thinking Skills of

Students. Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 4(3), 73–88. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-

bc.researchport.umd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=eric&AN=EJ1106444&site

=eds-live&scope=site

Oluk A., Korkmaz O. (2016 November). Comparing students’ Scratch skills with their

computational thinking skills in terms of different variables. Retrieved from

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED582994.pdf

Owston, R., Wideman, H., Ronda, N. S., & Brown, C. (2009). Computer Game Development as

a Literacy Activity. Computers & Education, 53(3), 977–989. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-

bc.researchport.umd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=eric&AN=EJ8487

68&site=eds-live&scope=site

Scherer, R. (2016). Learning from the Past–The Need for Empirical Evidence on the Transfer

Effects of Computer Programming Skills. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1390.

https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01390

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01390

15
Scherer, R., Siddiq, F., & Sánchez Viveros, B. (2018). The cognitive benefits of learning

computer programming: A meta-analysis of transfer effects. Journal of Educational

Psychology. https://doi-org.proxy-bc.researchport.umd.edu/10.1037/edu0000314.supp

The learning effect of visualized programming learning on 6th graders’ problem solving and

logical reasoning abilities. 2011 International Conference on Electrical and Control

Engineering, Electrical and Control Engineering (ICECE), 2011 International Conference on.

2011:6940. doi:10.1109/ICECENG.2011.6056908

Vatansever, Ö., & Baltaci Goktalay, Ş. (2018). How does teaching programming through Scratch

affect problem solving skills of 5th and 6th grade middle school students? International

Journal of Eurasia Social Sciences / Uluslararasi Avrasya Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 9(33),

1778–1801. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-

bc.researchport.umd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=a9h&AN=132908

675&site=eds-live&scope=site

16