Teaching Programming with Makey Makey in Lower Secondary School
摘要
Current programming didactics trends favor using various digital and robotic toys and technologies in education. With an increasing number of these educational tools available, educators face challenges in selecting suitable devices for their students. Since the Slovak national curriculum recommends teaching programming as one of the basic topics of the informatics subject, in recent years, we have conducted an analysis of the potential integration of various robots and robotic kits into the teaching process in informatics classes. Programming education is covered in the Algorithmic Problem Solving topic, but the emphasis is on integrating it across all informatics topics. In this study, we focused on analyzing the possibilities of using Makey Makey in teaching programming to lower secondary school students. At this level of education, block programming is mainly used, with Scratch being the most popular. Therefore, we used Makey Makey in combination with this programming environment. Makey Makey, a didactic tool rather than a robotic toy, functions as an input device connected to a computer, allowing users to control actions through conductive materials. Its ease of use and compatibility with major operating systems make it a valuable addition to informatics education.