Blog Post Text Based vs Block Based Coding

David Weintrop of the University of Chicago, as well as Uri Wilensky of Northwestern University created a study that looked at the differences between text based and block based coding at the highschool level. In general, block based coding was seen more at the beginner level, however, on the same assessment, the students using block based coding scored higher on average than those using text coding, both at the beginning and end of the course. Similarly, students in the block based coding group had a much larger boost in confidence in their abilities than those in the text based group, whose confidence actually lowered. Similarly, the block based coding group had a higher enjoyment score than those on the text based group. Most interesting of all, after both groups responded to a poll, the block based coding group on average found coding much more difficult than the text based group, even though they performed significantly better on the assessment, yet still the block group was more interested in taking more classes.

Citation for pictures: Comparing Block-Based and Text-Based Programming in High School Computer Science Classrooms

Author: Kyle Heeter- Secretary from Virgina Beach, Virgina