Smart Homes Programming

Abstract

In light of the complexity of introductory programming for young learners, visual programming has become more and more popular. In particular, block-based educational programming systems have emerged as an area of active research. This paper introduces an educational block-based programming application, enabling young learners to learn and make programs in the context of smart homes. In this application, smart objects have a set of primitive behaviors which can be integrated in the general features of programming languages like variables, conditionals, loops, and functions. The programming language is shown in a graphical interface to enable young students to program with the application. The development and implementation of this application, along with helping features for the students are described. In a pilot study with 20 7th grade students, the application's effectiveness and ease of use are evaluated. The results show that students can fairly solve programming problems and make real programs in the context of smart homes. Feedback of the learners is presented and discussed.