1 Introduction
2 Making programmed technological solutions understandable
2.1 Understanding technology and technological solutions
2.2 Understanding technological solutions by using systems thinking
2.3 Understanding programmed technological solutions
3 Methodology and research design
3.1 The phenomenographic approach
3.2 Data collection
3.2.1 The interview questions and the prepared contexts
3.2.2 Ethical issues
3.2.3 Limitations of the study
3.3 Analysis
4 Results
4.1 Outcome space A - pupils’ understandings of programmed micro: bit constructions
4.1.1 Categories
Interviewer: What does this mean?Pupil 12: FOREVER is that it will run over and over continuously.Interviewer: And this, IF and THEN?Pupil 12: I don't really know.Interviewer: No, what does this say?Pupil 12: Light…light level to a hundred then. And then start ... then a melody starts, repeats once.Interviewer: What does that mean?Pupil 12: That there should be a light like over the fridge and then that there will be a melody instead of a kind of beep beep that beeps continuously.Interviewer: […] what will happen here in the construction with the Micro:bit and the speaker then? How does that work, do you think?Pupil 12: I don’t really know.Interviewer: [...] if we think of what’s here in the code itself.Pupil 12: Yes.Interviewer: And then look at that [the Micro:bit construction], is there any idea...?Pupil 12: [shakes his head][…]Interviewer: Mm, how does this work then?Pupil 12: I think you kind of downloaded that [the code] and then it has been transferred over here so when you open then it will shine to level hundred, then it will shine, then you hear the melody here in the speaker.
Interviewer: No, but if we look at this code and these components that are here, do you think that you could describe for me how they work together? [...]Pupil 23: So there is a program here that somehow tells that one [the Micro:bit] what to do and then that program is sent through the cable here to this [the Micro:bit] and then what’s written in there, that program is somehow made to work with that device. So it’s sent to that one and then it does that...so the signal is sent, the program, then it’s activated or whatever you want then, depending on what the program looks like it’s activated and does what you have programmed it for.
Interviewer: Ok. If you are going to make a construction like this, is there anything that can go wrong when making it?Pupil 20: Yes, you maybe happen to put the light level there in the code [at THEN], you put them in the wrong place and then maybe it doesn’t work.Interviewer: [...] where could they end up?Pupil 20: At THEN instead and then the melody ends up at IF.Interviewer: Ok, what would that mean if you did the opposite? What would...?Pupil 20: Then maybe if it started to play then the lights are turned on instead.
Interviewer: Yes, and then I wonder how this one knows what to do? [the Micro:bit construction]Pupil 1: But you've coded it and then you've downloaded the code on the Micro:bit and, like connected it with a speaker like with alligator clips, are they called clips? Or whatever they are called. So that they make it...but it starts then, you can almost say that you told it to do something and then it does that, or that it has a program that it must follow. At that point when it gets brighter, it will start to play and when it gets darker it should be completely dead.
Pupil 22: Yes, so that it [the speaker] will make a sound when someone opens the refrigerator and then it [the sensor] senses the light and then there is sound.Interviewer: […] look at the code and this construction and its components, the parts, and try to explain for me how this will function.Pupil 22: Anyway I think that first, the blue up there begins, it's FOREVER and that’s what makes it able to do it over and over again.Interviewer: What do you mean by over and over again?Pupil 22: Well that [the Micro:bit construction] does that once and then if you close and then open it [the refrigerator] again then that [the Micro:bit construction] can do it again and so it goes on like that. And the ‘light level’ I think is that it senses bright light [...] And then I also think that when it comes to ‘start melody’, that's where there is the sound ‘baddy’ or something, and then whatever it’s called, it’s repeated once so it’s not like played over and over again all the time. But if you close it again and open then it will play the same again.....Interviewer: If we look at these components here, could you describe how this code and these components work together?[...]Pupil 22: I think first, when you turn it on then the signal goes to the computer through that [the Micro:bit]] because it senses that or yes it senses the light then I think it goes through this first [the wire between the Micro:bit and the speaker] and then it goes to that [the speaker] and plays a sound and then it goes back and then it goes... I don’t really know.Interviewer: What's the last thing you thought that you do not really know, it will go back and then...Pupil 22: Yes and then the current will remain here.Interviewer: Yes.Pupil 22: And then maybe it goes around and around and around ...
Interviewer: […] what will happen in this Micro:bit construction if you look at the code?Pupil 14: It will sense or then maybe it senses that there is…it gets brighter, then it says through…or like says through these wires to the speaker, since they are like connected and then it will like…begin to play that specific melody because that’s what’s decided or whatever you say, that is what you want it to do.Interviewer: Mm, and how does the speaker know when to play?Pupil 14: Eh, a certain kind of wave goes or whatever it is, maybe it's not a wave, but it goes through the tube... the tubes ... the wires, a special kind of wave goes that it's that particular melody that is going to be played and it will do that.
Pupil 6: [...] you've programmed that if it gets bright, that's set to start, well it's always running, but then it understands that it has to make the speaker play music and then it has to send [a signal] to the speaker that it should play that particular melody[...] it receives a lot of info and then it takes that and sends it on..........Pupil 6: […] there is always something that has to send a signal if anything is going to happen.……..Interviewer: […] what is a signal?Pupil 6: [...] it may be a message that it sends that ‘now you do this’, so that everything will function or whatever.……..Interviewer: ....this info you say, where does it end up when it’s sent?Pupil 6: I think it ends up in some programmed things behind those small parts where a lot of different info can be received and then maybe the lamps have a small part, and each component has a certain part, where a certain amount of info can be received that can later be sent forward and so I think it continues............Interviewer: What do you mean? Everything is connected?Pupil 6: [...] In the Micro:bit itself, it's ... I think there are a lot of different parts and tubes and everything that are very thin but contain a lot of info and they have to lead somewhere so all of them have to somehow be connected. It is the same from the speaker to the Micro:bit, you cannot just put it next to it, because then the Micro:bit doesn’t even know that it's there, it has to be connected in some way...
4.2 Outcome space B - pupils’ understandings of programmed technological solutions in everyday life
4.2.1 Categories
In the excerpt above, the pupil identifies a lamp as a programmed technological solution from a single component, its button, that directly controls the output, in this case to light up a lamp. In the excerpt below, the pupil also identifies a traffic light as a programmed technological solution from a single component, a button. This button, which in the pupil’s description is controlled from an office, is directly connected to an output in the solution, a change in colour. Even though the pupil identifies the traffic light as programmed, the function is described as being controlled by a single component. In both these excerpts, the pupils do not express anything about the process that generates the output or anything about the structure of components between the input and the output. There seems to be a direct connection between the input, the buttons, and the function of the solution.Interviewer: […] do you think there are other things that are programmed?Pupil 12: Yes, I guess lamps probably are, it's kind of when you push the button, then the lamp lights up.Interviewer: Yes..?Pupil 12: They must be programmed yes.
Interviewer: Traffic lights, yes?Pupil 14: They are controlled like from an office, so it should go like this that now you change the colour type, and then it will be like that [...]Interviewer: Mm, and how does a traffic light know when it is going to change colour?[...]Pupil 14: A button. And then it will be that when you press a button like this say if this button is pressed then it will change colour like from red to yellow to green.Interviewer: And then the programmed [part] in this, how do you think it is then?Pupil 14: Then it's just that button and that it like goes from an office and that you don’t like stand there and change it.
Excerpts in this category indicate that pupils see the interaction between the buttons on the remote control and the TV. They also see that there is a flow of signals from the remote control to the TV but they do not express anything about how these signal are generated. In the excerpt below, the pupil describes how each button has a certain function that makes things happen. He is also on his way to discerning that the signal that is sent includes some kind of communication that is identified by the TV and affects the function of the TV.Interviewer: Mm then we'll talk about the remote control, I think. You say that this is programmed, what makes you think it's programmed?Pupil 13: Yes, for example, as with the Micro:bit, there are buttons that you have programmed like a code but now there is no code for this then eh now it's only that you have programmed it on ... we did it with our robots and so on. We had another program that we sent some kind of ... because it sends signals to the TV like when the computer sends signals to the iPad or yes to the Micro:bit and then it’s the remote control that’s like a computer I guess but then I think, I do not know how this is programmed, but maybe it’s like the Micro:bit, it’s buttons so if you push a certain button something happens, and then I think it’s about the same with the remote control but it has no codes that are sent. It runs more like on battery.[…]Interviewer: Mm. These signals, what do they consist of? How does this work?Pupil 13: I don’t know, I can…well I really don’t know.
Both these excerpts indicate that pupils only see single components, the buttons, and even though they are aware of the flow between the buttons on the remote control and the TV, the pupils say that it is the buttons that make things happen and thus control the function.Interviewer: You told me it’s programmed, where is the programming?Pupil 5: ...if you click certain buttons, that if you click the OFF and ON button, the TV will be turned on or off. The same thing if you click seven, then it will switch channel or if you want to raise and lower the volume. So each button has a certain function.Interviewer: ...and how does this work? If you say, you press a button, how does the TV know that you want to watch channel four?Pupil 5: It’s like a signal from this remote control to the TV like when you control the TV with the remote control, it knows that the remote control has sent a signal to the TV that it is going to change the channel...
Pupil 1: It works so that if you push this button, the thermometer starts and begins to sense the temperature. Eh, depending on what kind of thermometer it is then, what’s it called? Then it reads yes, but it senses the temperature and it’s like a bath thermometer though it’s more developed.Interviewer: If you think of, you know when you measure the temperature, you'll see here in this small display what the temperature is. How is it possible that it can appear there? Why can you see it?Pupil 1: It is coded so depending on what temperature it is, what digits come up here, it is made to show the temperature, for example if it senses 27 degrees, then it should show 27 degrees Celsius......Pupil 1: Mm, they are somehow connected to each other you know. There is probably a sensor here [pointing at the tip of the thermometer] that sends signals to the display then what temperature it senses. And it’s the same with this [pointing at the start button on the thermometer] which sends signals to the thermometer as yes to start it.
Pupil 6: ...in the… or under the buttons because I don’t think it is the buttons in themselves that have the programming because it is when you push a button, there is always something underneath it that senses and then maybe...Interviewer: What did you say?Pupil 6: It is maybe the same here that it’s connected then and then everything is gathered down into it so then when it is pushed down it’s connected with another one so that they might be connected with a hatch with lots of info and then there is a battery in the remote control that makes it like get a kind of power so that it can work and transfer, or whatever you say, to the TV.[…]Interviewer: Then, how does the TV know?Pupil 6: Because it gathers it […] there is a place where it receives a lot of info and there it knows that it’s from the remote control […]
Pupil 2: I think that there is maybe a sort of variable that has a name for each button, there are three buttons. And then we say the UNLOCK button that will unlock the car, there's a script for it that when the UNLOCK button is pushed on, ...signals are sent between or messages between them, the car and the key.Interviewer: Well, if you think then, you say sends signals. Where do the signals go? You say the car here?Pupil 2: ...it is possible to send messages on these chips eh so it will be like a message that will be sent to the car, because the car needs to have a computer inside it [...] a chip like that is probably connected to this [the car key] so if the message is received, the car is opened........Interviewer: Yes and then when the computer in the car gets information, it unlocks the car, but how does this function? Can the computer unlock doors in a car?Pupil 2: Well the computer is probably connected to these Makey Makey wires and there are certainly similar ones in the car that are connected to the computer and to a motor that has to...that the motor receives so the motor has two functions then, to close and to open, and when it receives this message or this wire is sending OPEN, like this one [shows the car key] has sent to the computer in the car, then it goes to the motor that says OPEN and then it opens...
4.3 The structural and referential aspects
Structural aspects | Referential aspects | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Category | Logic | Organisation | Interaction | Function |
1A | No clear understanding of what the code represents | Seeing the Micro:bit construction as a whole device, not discerning the components | Describing an interaction between the code and the device | Describing how the interaction between the code and the device affects the function of the technological solution |
2A | Describing what the code and its structure represent | Discerning the components and expressing something about how they work | Describing an interaction between the code and the components based on the logic in the code and how the components work | Describing how the interaction between the code and the components affects the function of the technological solution |
3A | Describing what the code and its structure represent | Discerning the structure of components in the technological solution | Describing an interaction between the code and the components based on the logic in the code and the structure of the components, which generates a flow of something such as pulses, waves, light, sound etc. | Describing how the flow affects the function of the technological solution |
4A | Describing what the code and its structure represent and how the code controls the flow of information | Discerning that the function of the components is to handle information in the technological solution | Describing an interaction between the code and the components based on the logic in the code and the structure and function of the components which generate a flow of information that is controlled by the code | Describing how the flow of information determines the function of the technological solution |
Structural aspects | Referential aspects | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Category | Logic | Organisation | Interaction | Function |
1B | – | Focusing on single components | Describing an interaction between single components | Describing how single components control the function of the technological solution |
2B | – | Focusing on single components | Describing an interaction between single components and seeing a flow of something between the components such as pulses, waves, light, sound etc. | Describing how single components control the function of the technological solution |
3B | Awareness of a code but not describing what the code represents | Discerning the structure of components in the technological solution | Describing an interaction between the components based on the code and the structure of components and relating this to a flow of information which is controlled by the components | Describing how the flow of information affects the function of the technological solution |
4B | Describing what the code and its structure represent and how the code controls the flow of information | Discerning that the function of the components is to handle information in the technological solution | Describing an interaction between the code and the components based on the logic in the code and the structure and function of the components, which generates a flow of information which is controlled by the code | Describing how the flow of information determines the function of the technological solution |