A very insightful project! I’ve seen programming students struggle with syntax, and this could definitely be one of the solutions guiding them towards a successful transition to Python.
Nice! This really helps students struggle less with syntax and think more about the behavior of the code that they want to write in a different way from Scratch. It's like Python with handles!
CodeStruct is a wonderful tool! Combining the structured style of a block based editor while keeping certain aspects of text based editors really helps students transition smoothly!
→ a context-aware toolbox of explorable tutorials
→ allows point-and-click + char-by-char code insertions
→ automatically handles syntax
→ provides immediate feedback + suggestions while coding
→ provides visual aids: holes + scope
We also evaluated CodeStruct in an 11-session study with 26 high school students. Some of the results:
→ Transitioning to CodeStruct reduced syntax errors (4.35x) and help requests (4.63x) when compared to transitioning directly to Python.
→ Interestingly, learners that used CodeStruct performed equally well after the scaffolds were removed.
Learn more here: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3501712.3529733