The Sugar Learning Platform: Affordances for Computational Thinking

Abstract

After ten years of deployment of the Sugar Learning Platform, we reflect on the specific tools and affordances deployed to engage learners in computational thinking with the overarching goal of fluency. These tools including multiple media-rich programming environments and also mechanism for debugging, collaboration, expression, and reflection. We motivate our selection of tools by reviewing the pioneering work of Seymour Papert, Marvin Minsky, and Cynthia Solomon, who first brought multimedia computing to elementary schools in the late 1960s with the goal of engaging children in the mastery of many of the heuristics and algorithms we associate with computational thinking. Multiple examples of how these tools have been used by teachers and students are discussed. We further describe the role that Free/Libre Software plays in providing scaffolding for deep and personal expression through programming and for surfacing personal responsibility, a sense of community, and unbounded expectations of Sugar users turned Sugar developers.