Learning Collaboratively with Scratch

Learner-directed creative programming can broaden participation in computing by enabling students to bring their own interests, backgrounds, and identities into the learning experience. However, learner-directed work is challenging for students, especially as they encounter frustration and obstacles in their learning. Collaboration is an effective strategy, but organizing effective collaborative learning experiences is difficult, particularly when addressing the diverse needs, backgrounds, and learning styles of students. We sought to understand how students collaborate on learner-directed Scratch projects and how to organize this type of collaboration. To explore this question, we designed a collaborative programming Scratch curriculum consisting of 22 activities, 13 of which were tested in a 5-day workshop with six students aged 11-14. Through participant observation, interviews, and analysis of student work and survey data, we found that students had many different preferences around collaborative structures, each of which had different affordances and challenges. Some pairs preferred traditional pair programming, while others worked with a partner but focused on individual projects. Student success and satisfaction with collaboration depended on their goals and experiences. Regardless of approach, students benefited from opportunities to learn from one another and share their work.