The TuringLab Programming Environment - An Online Python Programming Environment for Challenge based Learning

摘要

Computing has recently been introduced as a core subject in British schools, meaning that children need to learn computer programming. Teachers have to be prepared to be able to deliver the new curriculum, but many of them do not feel confident teaching it as they have no formal background in Computer Science. Also, when learning to programme, children need the correct environment and support to succeed. This paper presents TuringLab, an environment to assist teachers in delivering the practical elements of the computing curriculum, while also proving to be engaging and challenging for the children. Teachers can create programming challenges for their pupils and see how they are progressing (or struggling) during completion of the challenges. Students can undertake challenges in an engaging environment which displays a graphical output of their code and assists in understanding errors they may encounter. TuringLab has been used to teach children how to programme at a number of volunteer-led coding clubs. Children engaged well with TuringLab, and the volunteers, who acted as teachers in these sessions, found TuringLab an extremely valuable educational tool.