Abstract
Research indicates that providing students with learning tools to scaffold
them during a CS1 course can positively affect the manner in which they develop
programming skills. Some examples of learning tools are Scratch, Lego Mindstorms
and programming strategies. These learning tools provide an opportunity for students to
actively learn, as the tools’ fundamental design focuses on multi-dimensional, tangible
objects. This paper presents the qualitative and quantitative results which formed part of
a study that focused on many learning principles for CS1 courses. Active learning,
discussed in this paper, was one of the learning principles. The results to date are
promising.