Investigation of coding skills development levels of the students who develop the game by coding with block based programming language in context based learning environment

It is emphasized so frequently in the literature and in our daily lives that the ability of coding which is seen as one of the mental skills that is required for 21st century plays very significant role because of the fact that ability of coding is given to children in very early ages, transferring information that they have learned during their lives and carrying out studies that are beneficial for society since it is crucial for the reasons of developing and influencing a several thinking skills. Instead of how to use electronic devices such as computers, tablets etc. or progressing in games by using these electronic devices by children, with the help of getting involved in activities that give a chance to children to create their own applications and games or to learn the logic of coding behind these applications and games. Because of that fact, it gives an opportunity to make contribution to children coding ability. Based on this information, it is significant to know which methods will be used for the improvement of small ages groups coding skills, how to design an instructional design process, thereby, it is very important to know how this skill is acquired by children. In this study, an experimental research consisting of control and experiment group is designed to investigate the contribution of coding education given in context-based environment to the development level of students' coding skills and students' perceptions about the course. "Attitude Scale for Educational Computer Games Supported Coding Education" was developed by Gonca Keçeci, Burcu Alan, Fikriye Kırbağ Zengin and Cronbach Alpha coefficient value was found as 0,689 in this study. The questionnaire which was developed by researcher by using "Computer Attitude Scale" developed by Eda Yüksel is used in order to determine the attitudes of secondary school students towards educational computer games supported coding. Readiness Survey, Coding Ability Development Evaluation Form which was designed by the researcher, computer attitude scale which was developed by Eda Yüksel and Cronbach Alpha coefficient value was found as 0,843 were used in this study. The research was carried out with 5th grade students studying in one of the private schools in the 2016-2017 Academic Year, in İstanbul. The study was carried out in the computer laboratory in which every students had a computer and there was an interactive board. The selection of the control and experimental groups within the scope of the study from 5 different 5th grade branches within the school was made by passing the equivalents before the application. Two groups whose levels closest to each other and haven't taken coding lessons were identified as control and experimental groups randomly. In this study, there were in total 42 students, 21 of them were in control group and 21 of them were in experimental group. In this study, Information Technologies and Software course is given with the help of coding via an interactive board. The effect of education in context based on improvement of students coding skills, the effect of students attitudes towards to coding on improvement of students coding skills and the effect of education which is given in both environment –context based and context independent based- on students perceptions about difficulty of the lesson. Coding in context based environment is new application in Turkey and it is not found any studies related to coding in context based environment in Turkey. In this way, it is thought that this study is beneficial for further studies in terms of coding education has a great potential to improvement of students coding skills. According to research findings, there was a statistically, meaningful difference between improvement of students coding skills in context based environment and independent context based environment. Because of that, it can be said that coding course in context based environment has a contribution to improvement of students' level of coding skills. Also, it is found that there is not any relation between student's attitudes towards to coding and students improvement of coding skills. In another words, whether students like the coding lessons or not, it does not affect their improvement levels. Lastly, since it is found that there is not statistically meaningful difference between students who are taught in context based environment and context-independent in terms of attitudes towards to difficulty of the course, environment design did not affect the difficulty perception and it can be said that students both in two groups found the course medium difficult.