Bachelor Thesis: Tangible Visual Programming with Blockly (BSc., BEd.)

Visual programming involves creating computer programs through graphical elements or visual interfaces, rather than traditional text-based coding.

This approach aims to make programming more accessible, especially for beginners, by using visual representations of code structures. Users typically manipulate graphical elements, such as blocks or flowchart symbols, to create algorithms and specify the logic of a program.

Blockly is a visual programming editor by Google. It is often used as an educational tool to teach programming concepts without the complexity of syntax. Users can drag and drop blocks, which are shaped like puzzle pieces, to build programs. Blockly supports various programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, and others, and it can be embedded into different applications. The visual nature of Blockly makes it accessible for beginners and helps them understand coding logic before transitioning to text-based programming languages.

Physical coding: “Physical coding” has been introduced in the robotics domain where actual physical representations of programs, for example, function blocks are used to create a sequence of actions a robot has to execute.

Making code and the resulting programs physical (tangible programming) offers a new way to combine how children play and learn with computational thinking and computer science education.

https://blog.research.google/2016/06/project-bloks-making-code-physical-for.html

Tasks:

The goal of this Bachelor Thesis is to develop a prototype of a Physical Coding Environment for Blockly. Physical Blockly-Blocks should be arranged, for example on a table, then recognized by a camera, NFC Tag, or other mechanism, and the corresponding program should be presented in the virtual editor.

Number of Students: 1-2

Supervisors:
Michael.Vierhauser@uibk.ac.at
Tobias.Antensteiner@uibk.ac.at