Analyze your Scratch projects with Dr. Scratch and assess your Computational Thinking skills

Scratch Conference 2015, Amsterdam

Analyze your Scratch projects with Dr. Scratchand assess your Computational Thinking skills

Jesus Moreno Leon, Gregorio Robles

[email protected], [email protected]/Libresoft, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos


Jesus Moreno Leon, Gregorio Robles Analyze your Scratch projects with Dr. Scratch and assess your Computational Thinking skills


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What is Dr. Scratch?



Remixing other researchers’ ideas

Analysis of Scratch projects

Scrape: visual representation of the blocks used (and notused).

Hairball: static analyzer of Scratch projects to detect errors.

Brennan & Resnick: New frameworks for studying andassessing the development of CT.

Seiter & Foreman: Progression of Early CT Model.

Wilson, Hainey & Connolly: Evaluation of games to gaugeunderstanding of programming concepts.



Assessment of CT development

CT aspect Basic Developing Proficient

Data representation modifiers of spritesproperties

operations on vars operations on lists

Logical Thinking if if else logic operationsUser interactivity green flag key pressed, sprite

clicked, ask and wait,mouse blocks

when %s is >%s,video, audio

Algotithmic notionsof flow control

sequence of blocks repeat, forever repeat until

Abstraction andproblem decomposi-tion

more than one scriptand more than onesprite

def block when I start as clone

Parallelism Two scripts on greenflag

Two scripts on keypressed, two scriptson sprite clicked onthe same sprite

Two scripts on whenI receive message,two scripts when %sis >%s, two scriptson when backdropchange to

Synchronization wait Broadcast, when I re-ceive message, stopall, stop program,stop programs sprite

wait until, whenbackdrop change to,broadcast and wait

Table: Level of development for each CT component.



Assessment of CT development: Logical Thinking

Different levels of development of logical thinking: basic (top),developing (center) and proficient (bottom).



Assessment of CT development: Data Representation

Different levels of development of data representation: basic (top),developing (center) and proficient (bottom).



Code smells (I)

Errors or bad programming habits

Dead code

Attribute initialization

Default names

Repeated scripts



Code smells (II)

Bad/default naming of sprites



Code smells (and III)

Example of repeated code Solution to avoid repeated code

Blocks should be created toavoid repetition of code



Limitations

Teachers should not rely exclusively on Dr. Scratch

Fundamental CT skills not assessed: debuggingand remixing.

Functionality or creativity not evaluated.

Portfolio analysis would be more accurate.

Background picture: Robert Couse-Baker



Future Work

1 Does Dr. Scratch foster CT skills?

2 Dr. Scratch vs Expert judgement.

3 Correlations between Dr. Scratch and other CT assessmenttools.

Background picture: Simon Cunningham



Analyze your Scratch projects with Dr. Scratchand assess your Computational Thinking skills

Jesus Moreno Leon, Gregorio Robles

[email protected], [email protected]/Libresoft, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos



Analyze your Scratch projects with Dr. Scratch and assess your Computational Thinking skills

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