ScratchJr Studies

The DevTech Research Group at Boston College directed by Prof. Marina Umaschi Bers, is partnering with public school districts in two northeastern states of the United States to conduct research and professional development with regard to the “Coding as Another Language” Education Innovation Research (EIR) grant from US Dept of Education (grant #U411C190006) which explores the integration of coding and computational thinking in K-2 classrooms. The project utilizes the free ScratchJr programming language, co-developed by Dr. Bers, which is currently widely used all over the world by around 32 million children, and the pilot-tested curriculum, “Coding as Another language (CAL)”. This curriculum aligns the integration of computational thinking and computer science with learning about math and literacy, through a collaborative, project-based process. Through this partnership, the project seeks to accomplish three goals

The CAL curriculum is evaluated for impact through a randomized control trial design with delayed treatment. Impact in K-2 is assessed through differences in learning outcomes in computational thinking and coding skills, math, and language development. A transfer and sustainability study compares fidelity of implementation across groups and measures perceived sustainability through interviews with teachers and Tech Leaders and the development of a strategic plan for being able to continue the work after the grant period ends.

The CAL-USA project began with a Pre-Pilot study, working with two schools in Massachusetts and one school in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Following the Pre-Pilot, a Pilot study was conducted, both virtually and in hybrid format with over 250 children and 30 early childhood teachers at schools in Minnesota, Arkansas, and California. Now, the CAL-USA project is in year two of implementing a Randomized Control Trial in public school districts in two northeastern states of the United States. Report for year one (2021-2022) for each state can be found here and here. Through this work, ScratchJr and the CAL curriculum has reached 43 schools, 120 early childhood teachers, 1,600 K-2 students.

Read more about the work on our publications page.

DevTech Research Group has partnered the Varkey Foundation and Comunidad Atenea to implement the CAL-ScratchJr curriculum in Corrientes and Mendoza, Argentina. The project leads for this study are Pamela Gonzalez and Hernan Gonzalez, coordinated by Carolina Gimenez.

The CAL-Argentina study is implementing the CAL-ScratchJr curricula across all three grades. The study design mirrors that of the CAL USA project.

The project has brought CAL-ScratchJr instruction to 80 early childhood teachers and over 600 K-2 students in Corrientes and Mendoza in Argentina. Read more about the work on our publications page.

Special thank you to Pamela Gonzalez for translating all three curricula into Spanish.

The DevTech Research Group at Boston College has partnered with the Mindful Learning Technologies Lab at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology to bring CAL to Israel. The project leads in Israel are Professor Rinat Rosenberg-Kima and doctoral student Avia Ben-Ari in collaboration with the Hod HaCarmel School.

The CAL-Israel study is implementing both CAL-ScratchJr and CAL-KIBO to two different kindergarten classrooms, with the hope of investigating the impact of the CAL curriculum across different modalities. The study design mirrors that of the CAL USA project.

This pilot study has reached 4 teachers and 30 kindergarten students in Haifa, Israel.

Read more about the work on our publications page.

Special thank you to Avia Ben-Ari for translating both the CAL-ScratchJr and CAL-KIBO kindergarten curricula into Hebrew.

As a part of the Scratch Education Collaborative, DevTech has partnered with 23 organizations around the world in countries such as Nigeria, Greece, Nepal, Kenya, Uruguay, India, Brazil, Israel, Spain, Ecuador, and Portugal to form a ScratchJr Special Interest Group.

Our partners have many different options of how to engage with CAL: Localize, Teach, or conduct Research, or a combination.

DevTech has begun working with 23 organizations worldwide across 5 different continents. Through these partnerships, ScratchJr and the CAL Curriculum will be brought to hundreds of early childhood educators and K-2 students around the world. Additionally, the CAL Curriculum is being translated into many new languages including Portuguese, Arabic, and Nepali.

Read more about the work on our publications page.

The CritiCAL project, directed by Prof. Marina Bers and Prof. Henry Braun at Boston College, aims to investigate the relationship between computational thinking (CT), critical thinking (CrT) and coding in pre-service and in-service early childhood educators. Learn more about CritiCAL here.

CritiCAL will reach over 100 pre-service and in-service early childhood educators. Read more about the work on our publications page.