Digital Storybooks to Teach Children Computer Science and Address Common Misconceptions

Abstract

CodeKids is a web-based platform developed to teach computational concepts to elementary and middle school-aged children. The platform hosts many interactive digital books that teach various computational concepts from bits and bytes to artificial intelligence using themes that children can easily relate to. This study focuses on books created to address common misconceptions students form when learning foundational computer science concepts including variables, conditions, and loops. The primary objectives of this research are to evaluate the students' perceptions of the digital storybook format and compare the misconception rates of students who used the storybooks to those from previous studies. A study was conducted at a local middle school with 6th and 7th-grade students who used two of the books created to target common variable misconceptions. Results revealed that students believed the books were engaging, and their self-perceived knowledge of variables increased after using the books. However, misconception rates remained comparable to prior research, highlighting the challenges in addressing misconceptions. Additionally, when students were asked to rank their prior programming language experience and programming environments they have used, it was found that the students' computer science knowledge is behind the regional educational standards, emphasizing the need for educational material like CodeKids to teach computer science to young students. The findings suggest that while the storybook format used by CodeKids is a promising medium to teach children computer science, more research needs to be done to refine the design and develop tools that effectively address misconceptions.