KareNao: A Tangible Block-Based Programming Environment

Abstract

Young children have a greater capacity for thinking when presented with physical objects. Yet, most children's programming environments are digital-based. Tangibles offer an effective way to help children learn to program a robot, but the challenge is implementing them in an easy-to-use and intuitive manner. This paper explores how to use an open-source, block-based tangible system to support children programming a robot. We found it is possible to augment an existing system with tangibles. But the expanded system was slower and less expressive than a digital block-based system.