A Study of the Challenges and design perspectives Affecting Physical Computing Teaching and Digital Education

Abstract

The shift towards physicality and materiality in interaction design and the rise of the Internet of Things is likely to lead to a high demand for physical computing devices and experiences in the coming years. Previous researches have argued that design and development for physical computing require on a diversity of skills including physical design, electronics, computational logic and programming and collaboration. Recent trends in computing education (e.g., initiatives that seek to encourage engagement with computer science topics from a younger age) have the potential to make schools a highly promising site for the development of physical computing skills. Yet, we hypothesize that teaching and learning physical computing is likely to present a range of unique challenges that aren’t addressed by programs that are primarily focused on topics of computing and computer programming alone. In this paper, we present a study that explores the extent and nature of physical computing teaching in the context of one high-profile computing education program: the UK’s Computing at School initiative. Our study comprised a questionnaire that was distributed to teachers, and follow-up interviews with selected respondents. Our findings suggested that physical computing concepts aren't commonly taught in schools, despite physical computing tools being prevalent.