research-article

Using Eye-Tracking to Unveil Differences Between Kids and Teens in Coding Activities

Authors:

Sofia Papavlasopoulou,

Kshitij Sharma,

Michail Giannakos, and

Letizia JaccheriAuthors Info & Claims

IDC '17: Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Interaction Design and Children

June 2017

Pages 171 - 181

https://doi.org/10.1145/3078072.3079740

Published: 27 June 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Computational thinking and coding is gradually becoming an important part of K-12 education. Most parents, policy makers, teachers, and industrial stakeholders want their children to attain computational thinking and coding competences, since learning how to code is emerging as an important skill for the 21st century. Currently, educators are leveraging a variety of technological tools and programming environments, which can provide challenging and dynamic coding experiences. Despite the growing research on the design of coding experiences for children, it is still difficult to say how children of different ages learn to code, and to cite differences in their task-based behaviour. This study uses eye-tracking data from 44 children (here divided into "kids" [age 8-12] and "teens" [age 13-17]) to understand the learning process of coding in a deeper way, and the role of gaze in the learning gain and the different age groups. The results show that kids are more interested in the appearance of the characters, while teens exhibit more hypothesis-testing behaviour in relation to the code. In terms of collaboration, teens spent more time overall performing the task than did kids (higher similarity gaze). Our results suggest that eye-tracking data can successfully reveal how children of different ages learn to code.

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Cited By

Hartikainen HVentä-Olkkonen LCortés Orduña MSanchez Milara IKäsmä MKuure L(2024)Making The Future School: An Analysis of Teens' Collaborative Digital Fabrication ProjectProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373688:CSCW1(1-37)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637368
Possaghi IZhang FSharma KPapavlasopoulou S(2024)Design Thinking Activities for K-12 Students: Multi-Modal Data Explanations on Coding PerformanceProceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3628516.3655786(290-306)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3628516.3655786
Walendy RWeber MLi JBecker SWiesen CElson MKim YFawaz KRummel NPaar C(2024)I see an IC: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Study Human Problem-Solving Processes in Hardware Reverse EngineeringProceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642837(1-20)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642837
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Index Terms

Using Eye-Tracking to Unveil Differences Between Kids and Teens in Coding Activities
1. Human-centered computing
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
        Information science education

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cover image ACM Conferences

IDC '17: Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Interaction Design and Children

June 2017

808 pages

ISBN:9781450349215

DOI:10.1145/3078072

General Chairs:
Paulo Blikstein
Stanford University, USA
,
Dor Abrahamson
University of California-Berkeley, USA

Copyright © 2017 ACM.

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Published: 27 June 2017

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Norges Forskningsråd

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IDC '17

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IDC '17: Interaction Design and Children

June 27 - 30, 2017

California, Stanford, USA

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IDC '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 25 of 118 submissions, 21%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 172 of 578 submissions, 30%

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Cited By

Hartikainen HVentä-Olkkonen LCortés Orduña MSanchez Milara IKäsmä MKuure L(2024)Making The Future School: An Analysis of Teens' Collaborative Digital Fabrication ProjectProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373688:CSCW1(1-37)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637368
Possaghi IZhang FSharma KPapavlasopoulou S(2024)Design Thinking Activities for K-12 Students: Multi-Modal Data Explanations on Coding PerformanceProceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3628516.3655786(290-306)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3628516.3655786
Walendy RWeber MLi JBecker SWiesen CElson MKim YFawaz KRummel NPaar C(2024)I see an IC: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Study Human Problem-Solving Processes in Hardware Reverse EngineeringProceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642837(1-20)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642837
Ke FLiu RSokolikj ZDahlstrom-Hakki IIsrael M(2024)Using eye-tracking in education: review of empirical research and technologyEducational technology research and development10.1007/s11423-024-10342-4Online publication date: 24-Jan-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-024-10342-4
Molina AArroyo YLacave CRedondo MBravo COrtega M(2024)Eye tracking-based evaluation of accessible and usable interactive systems: tool set of guidelines and methodological issuesUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-023-01083-xOnline publication date: 11-Jan-2024
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Zhou QBhattacharya ASuraworachet WNagahara HCukurova M(2023)Automated Detection of Students’ Gaze Interactions in Collaborative Learning Videos: A Novel ApproachResponsive and Sustainable Educational Futures10.1007/978-3-031-42682-7_34(504-517)Online publication date: 28-Aug-2023
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Theodoropoulos ALepouras G(2022)Game Design, Gender and Personalities in Programming EducationFrontiers in Computer Science10.3389/fcomp.2022.8249954Online publication date: 8-Feb-2022
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Tisza GSharma KPapavlasopoulou SMarkopoulos PGiannakos M(2022)Understanding Fun in Learning to Code: A Multi-Modal Data approachProceedings of the 21st Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3501712.3529716(274-287)Online publication date: 27-Jun-2022
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Muthuthanthirige J MU.P ID.N IHalgaswatta ISamarakoon UAmarasena N(2022)CodeJr: Comprehensive Programming Application for Children2022 4th International Conference on Advancements in Computing (ICAC)10.1109/ICAC57685.2022.10025092(435-440)Online publication date: 9-Dec-2022
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Li LTong YQiao L(2022)Eye Tracking and Its Applications in the Field of Intelligent EducationArtificial Intelligence in Education and Teaching Assessment10.1007/978-981-16-6502-8_15(161-174)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2022
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