Designing tangible programming languages for classroom use

This paper describes a new technique for implementing educational programming languages using tangible interface technology. It emphasizes the use of inexpensive and durable parts with no embedded electronics or power supplies. Students create programs in offline settings—on their desks or on the floor—and use a portable scanning station to compile their code. We argue that languages created with this approach offer an appealing and practical alternative to text-based and visual languages for classroom use. In this paper we discuss the motivations for our project and describe the design and implementation of two tangible programming languages. We also describe an initial case study with children and outline future research goals. Author Keywords Tangible UIs, education, children, programming languages