Developing tangible user interface to develop algorithmic thinking skills

The purpose of this study is to reveal the usability of "Tangible, Changeable and Editable Algorithmic Thinking Activities and Object (3D ADEN)" with the tangible user interface to develop secondary school 5th-grade students' algorithmic thinking skills. The user dimension of this study consists of 10 students in the 5th grade level in Eskişehir city in the 2020-2021 academic term and 10 teachers across Turkey. This study is conducted as a case study among qualitative research methods to organize 1 hour per week activities for 4 weeks and 3D ADEN teaching material is applied. During the application, observation, interview, System Usability Scale (SUS), student assessment technique and 3D ADEN system itself are used as data collection tools. 3D ADEN system tracks used modules for students to complete the activities, mistakes during the activities and activity durations. According to the study results, it is observed that students who used the 3D ADEN system had various changes in their algorithmic thinking skills. Students used different strategies such as visualization, determining short operation steps, debugging and trial-and-error to solve the problems given to them. Students have expressed to have fun at the end of the process and make self-assessments with the 3D ADEN system. According to findings obtained from the teachers, 3D ADEN is sufficient material to develop algorithmic thinking skills.