Teaching objects-first in introductory computer science
SIGCSE '03 Proceedings of the 34th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
C5 '04 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Creating, Connecting and Collaborating through Computing
Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas
Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas
Designing tangible programming languages for classroom use
Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Tangible and embedded interaction
Blind pupils begin to solve algorithmic problems
ISSEP'13 Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Informatics in Schools: Situation, Evolution, and Perspectives
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Learning algorithmic thinking can start in early years and must be oriented on the thinking ability of young children. Suitable environments with tangible objects and easy to understand problems motivate the young to learn the first concepts of algorithms. We present in this paper a learning scenario Tim the Train for primary school children, that involves tangible objects and allows a variety of interesting tasks to learn basic concepts of algorithmic thinking. We also show how a smooth transition from a playful environment with tangible objects to a virtual Scratch/BYOB environment may help the young learners to learn their first steps in understanding virtual environments and programming concepts.