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Does Scratch Teach Only Programming?

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Does Scratch Teach Only Programming?

Selen GALİÇ*, Cakir Schools, Turkey, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3524-6428,

[email protected]
Bahadır YILDIZ, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Turkey,
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4816-3071, [email protected]

Abstract: Scratch was designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This study aims to
obtain mathematical concepts that students need while developing a Scratch project based on the Turkish
national elementary mathematics curriculum. Within the scope of the research, six projects that are shared
openly with users and site visitors on the Scratch site were selected. Dr. Scratch was used to the process of
selecting quality Scratch projects under seven aspects over twenty-one points. In this study, Scratch projects
were classified according to their Dr. Scratch scores in three different levels such as beginner, intermediate
and upper level. For the current study, the selected projects are limited to the theme of the game. 119 Scratch
projects were examined according to criteria and 9 games with different levels were selected. In the data
analysis process each code blocks in every project were analyzed with regard to mathematics. Then,
mathematical concepts were associated with related objectives in the curriculum. According to the findings, it
was observed that 16 mathematical concepts in the elementary mathematics curriculum were used while
developing Scratch projects at beginner and intermediate levels. Besides, it was found that there were
mathematical concepts related to the secondary school curriculum. As a result of this study, students may
have implicit learning during the process of developing a Scratch Project. For the future study, Turkish
national curriculums may be investigated and rearranged as an holistic perspective.

Keywords: Scratch, Coding, Implicit learning, Mathematics curriculum, Concept learning.

1. INTRODUCTION
The term “concept” was used in mathematics education at first by Shlomo Vinner and
Hershkowitz (1980). A concept is an abstract term by classifying common characteristics of
events, facts, objects, and thoughts in the mind (Ülgen, 2004). According to another
definition, a concept is an idea or principle related to abstract things (“concept”, n.d.). Unlike
the definition of “concept”, concept image is relevant to the cognitive perception of the
individual. (Karakuş, 2018). Tall and Vinner (1981) described concept image as the cognitive
structure of the related concept that occurs in the individual’s mind when s/he encounters new
stimuli or acquires new experiences throughout life. Gutiérrez and Jaime (1999) stated that
students use the concept image in their minds while describing a concept.

Dickerson and Pitman (2012) claimed that improper or missing concept images cause
misconceptions for students. A misconception is a form of a student’s conception that enables

* Corresponding Author
Cakir Schools, Turkey

1
 Selen GALİÇ & Bahadır YILDIZ
Does Scratch Teach Only Programming?

producing a systematic pattern of errors (Smith et al., 1993). Behr et. al. (1992) argued that
some misconceptions may be caused new concepts not being connected with the prior
concepts strongly. According to the point of the constructivist view of learning, the learning
process is related to an interaction between new and prior conception (Hewson & Hewson,
1984; Posner 1982). Besides, while students’ concept learning process, teachers can cause
misconceptions to students by term definitions, teaching methods, techniques or materials
used (Zazkis & Leikin, 2008).

The learning process is the permanent/long-term behavioral changes of individuals with

respect to their own experiences (İlhan, 2011). Reber (1993) classified the learning process
into implicit and explicit learning. Implicit learning refers to the learning process and learning
products without being conscious awareness (Gasparini, 2004). Explicit learning, on the other
hand, refers to consciousness, and effortless learning (Ellis, 2005). Implicit knowledge is
gained through implicit learning. Similarly, the knowledge learned through explicit learning
is called explicit knowledge. Hence learning is related to the interaction of explicit and
implicit knowledge (Sun et al., 2007). Implicit learning is defined as a learning process that
occurs independently, learning consciously and also that occurs without having an exact idea
of what s/he has achieved (Reber, 1993). Understanding the reasons of the computational
steps during problem-solving by oneself can be considered as an example of implicit learning
(Akbulut-Taş, 2010). Concept learning a passive learning process in which subjects are
exposed to instances of the concept is a kind of implicit concept learning (Frick & Lee,
2008). Students are exposed to or have experienced this kind of learning process. Hence,
some knowledge of the features of a concept may be in the implicit form (Frick & Lee,
2008). Students may have implicit learning about some mathematical concepts.

Scratch is an open-source coding programming environment that empowers students to

develop animations, games, and interactive projects (Maloney et al., 2004). Scratch users
tend to learn mathematical concepts while developing any Scratch projects (Resnick et al.,
2009). The process of developing a Scratch project may be required using mathematical
concepts. The research group of Scratch studies whose number has increased in recent years
was mostly elementary school students both Turkish and English (Talan, 2019). It can be
considered that elementary school students perform implicit learning as a passive concept
learning process during developing the Scratch project. Their implicit learning can be related
to mathematical concepts . For this reason, the aim of this study is to obtain the mathematical
concepts students need to develop a Scratch project. This study is focused on the extent
which mathematical concepts can be used in the process of developing a Scratch project, and
provide a perspective of the distributions of the grade level with respect to the Turkish
national elementary mathematics curriculum (Ministry of National Education [MONE],
2018a). At this point, Dr. Scratch used to reach a wide range and types of quality Scratch
projects in student-designed games for mathematical concepts. The importance of this current
is to discuss the effects of programming lessons learned from using Scratch into implicit
learning with regards to mathematical concepts. Besides, it contributes to identifying the
distributions and amounts of the games develops in Scratch and mathematical concepts with
specific learning goals of the current Turkish national elementary mathematics curriculum

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 Selen GALİÇ & Bahadır YILDIZ
Does Scratch Teach Only Programming?

from the perspective of implicit learning. Therefore, this current study has been answered the
relationship between code structures in Scratch projects and the mathematical concepts to
obtain implicit learning during programming in Scratch.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Scratch
Many countries around the world interest programming in both school curriculum or out-of-
school learning activities (Sentance et al., 2017). Using block-based programming has been
increased recently (Amanullah & Bell, 2019). The 5th and 6th-grade information technologies
and software curriculum includes using block-based programming applications (Ministry of
National Education [MoNE], 2018b). Scratch is one of the alternatives to use for this
purpose.
Although Scratch was designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the
age group of 8 to 16 years in 2003, it is a simple programming language designed for all age
groups (Scratch, n.d.). Users can create their projects such as interactive stories, games, and
animations by using code blocks in Scratch (Saez-Lopez et al., 2016). Scratch allows both
downloading on devices and web-based access (https://scratch.mit.edu/) to create any projects
and share the projects with other users or site visitors on their websites.

Scratch supports students’ creativity skills (Kobsipirat, 2015), and international

communication and cooperation since it supports over forty languages support (Resnick et al.,
2009). According to literature, Scratch has a positive effect on students’ modeling (Calao et
al., 2015), problem-solving (Shin & Park, 2014; Nam et al., 2010), reasoning (Lai & Yang,
2011) and geometric thinking (Kakavas & Zacharos, 2019) skills and the understanding
mathematical concepts such as variables (Okuducu, 2020) prime numbers (Çubukluöz, 2019),
and integers (Mercan, 2019). Since the emergence of computers, programming was suggested
to emphasize mathematics education for the learning of mathematical ideas (Papert, 1980).
Scratch motivates students to learn mathematical concepts, and it develops students’
mathematical thinking skills (Calder, 2010; Taylor et al., 2010). Calder (2010) claimed that
the Scratch is valuable for learning mathematical concepts. Saez-Lopez et al. (2016) stated
that Scratch can be used in teaching logic and mathematics. Lewis and Shah (2012) argued
that the programming curriculum includes mathematics content knowledge. Students need to
acquire mathematical skills in problem-solving during coding (Aytekin et al., 2018). For
instance, a 13-year-old student creating a scoreboard for the game he designed in Scratch
should know how to use variables in mathematics (Resnick et al., 2009). According to
Iskrenovic-Momcilovic (2020), Scratch makes mathematics learning easy, effective, and
interesting. Joini et al. (2015) claimed that Scratch can be used basic mathematical principles
during teaching and learning. It can be considered that students may need to learn
mathematical concepts or make sense of the structure concerning their knowledge by
imitating the codes in Scratch. Pinto (2013) claimed that Scratch contributes mathematical
learning more intuitively. Students may learn some mathematical concepts during Scratch
programming unconsciously. It can be related to implicit learning. Utilizing the Scratch
projects, the purpose of this study is to obtain the implicit learning of mathematical concepts

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 Selen GALİÇ & Bahadır YILDIZ
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such as the following way in encoding (constructing the code blocks), representations of the
blocks (representing the code blocks algebraically), decomposition (constructing equations),
planning (constructing a sequence of code blocks) in Scratch (Daher et al., 2020). For this
purpose, qualitative and the widely range of Scratch projects should be chosen. Dr. Scratch
used to reach a widely range and types of quality Scratch projects in this study.

2.2. Dr. Scratch

Dr. Scratch, is a free and accessible web application, aims to assess the quality of Scratch
projects and provide easy and meaningful feedback to offer both learners and educators
(Moreno-León & Robles, 2015). The URL of the Scratch projects or upload it as the file is
required to provide the assessment. Dr. Scratch analyses the code blocks of the Scratch
projects to give a score on various aspects of its quality (Chang et al., 2017). These aspects
are given with their definitions in Table 1 (Dr. Scratch, n.d.). Each of these aspects is scored
on a scale of zero and three points, and the score is overall added in total.

Table 1. Scoring Aspects and Its Definition in Dr. Scratch

Scoring Aspects Definition
Flow control The control of the behavior of the characters.
Data representation Set of characters’’ knowledge
Abstraction The ability of decomposition and subtraction of the
problems.
User interactivity Interactivity between user and project
Synchronization To organize the code blocks with respect to meaningful
order.
Parallelism The possibility of occurring simultaneously.
Logic To carry through between situation and behavior

3. METHODOLOGY

3.1. Research Design

This current study is designed as a document analysis form of qualitative research in which
documents are interpreted by the researchers to make a voice and meaning around the related
topic (Bowen, 2009).

3.2. Data Collection and Analysis

This study aims to explore mathematical concepts with respect to implicit learning in student-
designed games with Scratch, to provide insights on how students approach and use
mathematical concepts in game design for the Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum. To provide the range and types of Scratch projects, the following inclusion
criteria are given in below in this study.

● Scratch projects have to be open access for all users and site visitors (To access the
codes).

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● The scores of Dr. Scratch have differed from each other (To ensure the computational
thinking metrics of projects).
● The Scratch projects have different types of games (To ensure the codes used are not
the same for all projects).

According to given criteria below, 119 Scratch projects were evaluated. All data are collected
from the Scratch website online. Since Scratch is an open-source website, users can share
their Scratch projects with other uses and site visitors. Therefore, using their Scratch projects
does not constitute a problem. 110 Scratch projects have excluded this study for the following
reasons:

 The Scratch Project include my block code blocks (user-made code blocks),
 The Scratch projects do not work clearly.
 The Scratch projects have dead codes that never are executed in the programming.
 There are duplicated Scratch projects.
 The number of Scratch projects is the same at each classification level.

Hence nine Scratch projects were selected to be appropriate for this study. In this study,
Scratch projects are classified according to their Dr. Scratch scores as follows:

● Beginner level from zero to seven points,

● Intermediate level from seven points to 14 points,
● Upper level from 14 points to 21points.

Scratch projects selected, their URL address to access them, and its Dr. Scratch scores are
given in Table 2.

As seen in Table 2, there were three Scratch projects for each level. Although the Scratch
projects that include the “MyBlock” code block are excluded from this study, all Scratch
projects get upper level includes MyBlock code blocks. Therefore, the upper level is out of
the scope of this study. The codes in the rest of the Scratch projects selected are analyzed
related to the mathematics objectives in the Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum individually to obtain the possible implicit learning for users.
The code blocks in selected projects were transferred to the table in order to analyze with
regards to mathematics objectives from the Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum through the implicit learning during programming in Scratch. In the line of this
purpose, each code block in Scratch projects is analyzed in accordance with the reasons of the
code block use related to mathematics objectives to obtain mathematical concepts
consciously or implicitly. Findings were represented by using the frequency and percentage
distributions of the mathematical concepts .

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Table 2. Dr. Scratch Score of Selected Scratch Projects and URLs

Dr. Scratch Score

Data Representation

User Interactivity

Synchronization
Selected Projects

Flow Control

Total Score
Abstraction

Parallelism
Name

Logic

Level
B1 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/46715445 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 5
7/

Beginner
B2 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 5
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/2529604/

B3 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/38275909 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 6
7/

I1 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/47243277 2 2 0 2 0 0 2 8
3/

Intermediate
I2 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/47498748 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 11
1/

I3 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/47328642 3 1 1 2 3 1 3 14
3/

U1 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/46854790 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 19
7/

Upper
U2 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/46929241 3 2 3 2 3 3 3 19
1/

U3 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/47197839 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 20
7/

4. FINDINGS
In this section, analysis of each Scratch project within the scope of this study is given firstly.
The related mathematical concepts based on the Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum are defined with their definitions and explanations. Finally, the distributions of
mathematical concepts related to the grade level is represented by using frequency and
percentage.

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4.1. Scratch Projects Analysis

Table 3. Explanation of the B1

Code Blocks Objectives Definition of Objectives

M.5.2.1.2 Students are able to determine the position of a

point according to another given point by
using direction and unit.

M.5.1.1.3 Students are able to find any term in a number

or shape pattern using a given rule.

M.5.2.1.4 Students are able to draw an angle (acute,

right, or obtuse) concerning using 90 degrees.

M.5.2.2.3 Students are able to draw and identify the

properties of rectangle, parallelogram,
rhombus, and trapezoid.

M.8.2.2.2 Students are able to define the coordinate

systems and identify coordinate
correspondences.

12.4.1.1* Students are able to verify experimentally the

image of rotations, reflections, and translations
in plane analytic geometry.
*Excluded objective

The code blocks created by the user in this Scratch project are given in Table 3. The
necessary mathematics contents related to the Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum while coding are as follows:

Figure 1. The Screenshot of B1

● In this project, the "pencil" block from extensions was used. Drawing an edge of the
square was drawn by using the "move 100 steps" block four times. In primary school,
students define physical measurements such as overarm and steps. Hence using steps
may cause misinterpretation. However, since the scope of this study was at the
elementary school level, this finding was excluded from the study.

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 Selen GALİÇ & Bahadır YILDIZ
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● A rotation according to the exterior angle of the square was required at the corner of
the square. Students learn the concept of angle in primary school. Students are able to
draw an angle (acute, right, or obtuse) with respect to using 90 degrees in the 5th
grade. The rotations were made according to the external angle while coding.
However, the exterior angle was not learned in 5th grade. Besides, although the
students know the concept of the angle, rotations in plane analytic geometry were not
included in the elementary mathematics curriculum. The related objectives in the
secondary mathematics curriculum were given in Table 2. It can be said that the
students may have implicit learning for the rotations and plane analytic geometry
intuitively. However, it was not included because it was out of the scope of this study.
● "Repeat four times" block was associated with the pattern. Students are expected to
repeat the pattern four times according to the given rule, respectively.

Table 4. Explanation of B3
Code Blocks Objectives Definition of Objectives

M.5.2.1.2 Students are able to determine the

position of a point according to
another given point by using
direction and unit.

M.8.2.2.2 Students are able to define the

coordinate systems and identify
coordinate correspondences.

M.12.4.1.1* Students are able to verify

experimentally the image of
rotations, reflections, and
translations in plane analytic
geometry.
*Excluded objective

The code blocks created by the user in this Scratch project are given in Table 4. The
necessary mathematics contents related to the Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum while coding are as follows:

Figure 2. The Screenshot of the B2

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 Selen GALİÇ & Bahadır YILDIZ
Does Scratch Teach Only Programming?

● The direction of rotating the sprite at its location depends on the direction of the
user’s mouse in this project. In the elementary mathematics curriculum, students are
able to determine the position of a point according to another given point in the 5th
grade. Merely students are only able to do it by using dotted paper etc.
● In the Scratch stage, students can express the direction of the sprite with respect to the
user’s mouse. But the related objective with rotation is not included in the elementary
mathematics curriculum. A related objective was given in Table 3. Therefore, rotation
can be considered as implicit learning for elementary school students. However, it
was not included because it was out of the scope of this study.

Table 5. Explanation of B3
Code Blocks Objectives Definition of Objectives

M.5.2.1.2 Students are able to determine the

position of a point according to
another given point by using
direction and unit.

M.6.2.1.1 Students are able to evaluate

expressions in which letters stand
for numbers when given a real-
world situation and vice versa.

M.6.2.1.2 Students are able to solve an

expression with respect to the
given value.

M.8.2.2.2 Students are able to define the

coordinate systems and identify
coordinate correspondences.

The code blocks created by the user in this Scratch project are given in Table 5. The
necessary mathematics contents related to the Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum while coding are as follows:

Figure 3. The Screenshot of B3

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● The term “position” was used for determining any random location. Students learn the
term of position in 5th grade for the first time in the elementary mathematics
curriculum. Scratch stage consists of a coordinate system. The random position on
Scratch is expressed between -240 and +240 on the x-axis and between -180 and +180
on the y-axis in the coordinate system. While looking at the curriculum, students are
able to identify the coordinate system in 8th grade for the first time. Hence it can be
said that students may have implicit learning about the concept of the coordinate
system before learning in the mathematics lesson.
● In this Scratch project, students get one point for any puncturing balloon. Adding a
new point for the total score represents an additional operation. In addition, this
project includes an algebraic expression whose constant term is one to create the
scoring. Students are able to identify the related terms of algebraic expression in 6 th
grade for the first time in mathematics lessons. In this project, students can determine
algebraic expressions intuitively. This may cause implicit learning for algebraic
expression, variable, constant term, and coefficient terms.

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 Table 6. Explanation of I1
Code Blocks Objectives Definition of Objectives

M.5.2.1.2 Students are able to determine the position of a point

according to another given point by using direction and unit.
M.5.1.1.3 Students are able to find any term in a number or shape
pattern using a given rule.
M.8.2.2.2 Students are able to define the coordinate systems and
identify coordinate correspondences.
M.6.1.4.1 Students are able to identify the term of integer and show
them in the number line.
M.6.2.1.1 Students are able to evaluate expressions in which letters
stand for numbers when given a real-world situation and vice
M.6.1.6.4 versa.
Students are able to make a multiplication operation by using
M.6.1.6.6 given decimals.
Students are able to make division operations by using a
M.7.1.1.3 given decimal with 10, 100, and 1000.
Students are able to make multiplication and division
M.8.2.3.1 operations by using integers.
Students are able to write the inequality to represent a
constraint or condition in a real-world or mathematical
problem.

* Corresponding Author
Cakir Schools, Turkey

11
The code blocks created by the user in this Scratch project are given in Table 6. The
necessary mathematics contents related to the Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum while coding are as follows:

Figure 4. The screenshot of I1

● In this project, students make multiplication operations by using decimals to identify
the x-axis of the objects. In the Turkish national elementary mathematics curriculum,
students learn the term of position in 5th grade and they make multiplication and
division operations by using decimals in 6th grade for the first time. It can be
considered that making operations by using decimals may cause implicit learning for
students.
● In this project, a variable can be defined to present the location of the object. It is
multiplied by the given decimal. The objective about the operations by using decimals
is in 6th grade. It may cause implicit learning for algebraic expressions.
● The expression “x position > 238” is defined as inequality. An object takes a value
between -240 and +240 for the x-axis in the scratch stage. The project is designed to
work if the position of the object is greater than 238, switch the background, and go to
the given place. Students can learn inequality in 8th grade for the first time. The
related objective is given in Table 6. Therefore, it may cause implicit learning about
both algebraic expression and inequality.
● The concept of “position” is used to express the location in the coordinate system.
Students may have implicit learning about determining position in the coordinate
system to identify any random location in the Scratch stage intuitively.
● "Forever" code blocks were associated with the pattern. Students are expected to
repeat the pattern forever according to the given rule, respectively.
● Location can be determined by using integers in the coordinate system. Students are
familiar with the national number system in 5th grade. In other words, students use
zero and positive integers until 6th grade. They are able to identify the term of integer
in 6th grade. Therefore, students may have implicit learning about negative integers.
● Scratch stage consists of a coordinate system. The random position on Scratch is
expressed between -240 and +240 on the x-axis and between -80 and +180 on the y-
axis in the coordinate system. The "go to x:-217 y: 70" code block expresses the
location on the coordinate plane. Therefore, students can visualize these concepts in
their minds by using implicit learning to determine the coordinate system intuitively.

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 Table 7. Explanation of I2
Code Blocks Objectives Definition of Objectives

M.5.2.1.4 Students are able to draw an angle (acute, right, or obtuse) with respect to using
90 degrees.
M.8.3.2.1 Students are able to draw any image of objects (dot, line segment, or other
shapes) after translation on dotted paper, squared paper, or coordinate system.
M.8.3.2.2 Students are able to draw any image of objects (dot, line segment, or other
shapes) after reflection on dotted paper, squared paper, or coordinate system.
M.5.1.1.3 Students are able to find any term in a number or shape pattern using a given
M.8.2.2.2 rule.
Students are able to define the coordinate systems and identify coordinate
M.5.1.1.3 correspondences.
M.5.1.5.2 Students are able to find any term in a number or shape pattern using a given
rule.
M.6.2.1.2 Students are able to determine any fraction into decimals when the denominator
is given 10, 100, or 1000.
M.8.2.2.3 Students are able to evaluate expressions in which letters stand for numbers
when given a real-world situation and vice versa.
M.5.1.1.3 Students are able to identify linear equations in two variables corresponding to
M.6.1.4.1 the table and equations.
M.8.2.2.2 Students are able to find any term in a number or shape pattern using a given
rule.
M.8.2.2.3 Students are able to identify the term of integer and show them in the number
line.
M.5.1.1.3 Students are able to define the coordinate systems and identify coordinate
correspondences
Students are able to identify linear equations in two variables corresponding to
the table and equations.
Students are able to find any term in a number or shape pattern using a given
rule.

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The code blocks created by the user in this Scratch project are given in Table 7. The
necessary mathematics contents related to the Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum while coding are as follows:

Figure 5. The screenshot of the I2

● In this project, it is expected to reflect the ball at the same angle after hitting the bar
with the angle it hits. Related objectives are given in the 8th grade according to the
elementary mathematics curriculum. Students are able to identify the reflection on the
coordinate system. Therefore, it can be considered that students may have implicit
learning about the concept of reflection while thinking about the process of the ball
intuitively.
● The ball score in the corner of the stage is updated according to the ball moves.
Updating score as ball moves is about dependent and independent variables. Students
are able to identify linear equations in two variables corresponding to the table and
equations in the 8th grade elementary mathematics curriculum. Hence the concept of
variables can be considered as implicit learning for students.
● Location can be determined by using integers in the coordinate system. Students are
familiar with the national number system in 5th grade. In other words, students know
zero and positive integers until 6th grade. They are able to identify the term of integer
in 6th grade. Therefore, students may have implicit learning about negative integers.
● In this project, the waiting time for the ball is determined as 0.5. Students are able to
identify decimals in the 5th grade. Therefore, it can be said that students may have
implicit learning about decimals intuitively.
● Scratch stage consists of a coordinate system. The random position on Scratch is
expressed between -240 and +240 on the x-axis and between -80 and +180 on the y-
axis in the coordinate system. The "go to x: 0 y: 0" block expresses the location on the
coordinate plane. Therefore, students can visualize these concepts in their minds by
using implicit learning to determine the coordinate system intuitively.
● "Forever" code block was associated with the pattern. Students are expected to repeat
the pattern forever according to the given rule, respectively.

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 Table 8. Explanation of I3
Code Blocks Objectives Definition of Objectives

M.8.2.2.2 Students are able to define the coordinate systems and identify coordinate
correspondences.
M.6.1.4.1 Students are able to identify the term of integer and show them in the number
M.5.1.1.3 line.
M.9.1.1.2.* Students are able to find any term in a number or shape pattern using a given
rule.
M.12.4.1.1* Students are able to define the properties of “and, or” in compound propositions
and show their properties by using the De Morgan rule in the truth table.
M.8.2.2.2 Students are able to verify experimentally the image of rotations, reflections,
and translations in plane analytic geometry.
M.6.1.4.1 Students are able to define the coordinate systems and identify coordinate
M.5.2.1.2 correspondences.
Students are able to identify the term of integer and show them in the number
M.5.1.1.3 line.
M.8.2.2.2 Students are able to draw an angle (acute, right, or obtuse) with respect to using
90 degrees.
M.6.1.4.1 Students are able to find any term in a number or shape pattern using a given
M.5.1.1.3 rule.
Students are able to define the coordinate systems and identify coordinate
correspondences.
Students are able to identify the term of integer and show them in the number
line.
Students are able to find any term in a number or shape pattern using a given
rule.

*Excluded objective

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The code blocks created by the user in this Scratch project are given in Table 8. The
necessary mathematics contents related to the Turkish national mathematics curriculum while
coding are as follows:

Figure 6. The Screenshot of the I3

● Scratch stage is defined as a coordinate system. Any position on Scratch is expressed

between -240 and +240 on the x-axis and between -80 and +180 on the y-axis in the
coordinate system. The "go to x: -198 y: 102" block expresses the location on the
coordinate plane. Therefore, students can visualize these concepts in their minds by
using implicit learning to determine the coordinate system intuitively.
● Location can be determined by using integers in the coordinate system. Students are
familiar with the national number system in 5th grade. In other words, students use
zero and positive integers until 6th grade. They are able to identify the term of integer
in 6th grade. Therefore, students may have implicit learning about negative integers.
● "Repeat 50 times" code block was associated with the pattern. Students are expected
to repeat the pattern forever according to the given rule, respectively.
● To code blocks for repeating until when touching the red or light blue colour, students
use propositions. It is defined as a compound proposition in mathematics lessons that
are not included in the elementary mathematics curriculum. The related objectives in
the Turkish national secondary mathematics curriculum were given in Table 7. It can
be said that the students may have implicit learning for the compound proposition
intuitively. However, it was not included because it was out of the scope of this study.
● In the Scratch stage, students can express the direction of the object with respect to
the user’s mouse. But the related objective (which was given in Table 3) with rotation
is not included in the elementary mathematics curriculum. Therefore, rotation can be
considered as implicit learning for elementary school students. However, it was not
included because it was out of the scope of this study.

4.2. The Distribution of Mathematical Concepts in Scratch Projects

The mathematical concepts obtained from the analysis of Scratch projects with respect to a
game level are given in Table 9.

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Does Scratch Teach Only Programming?

Table 9. The Distributions of Frequency and Percentage of Scratch Projects

Beginner Intermediate
Mathematical Concepts
f % f %

Pattern 1 7 3 12

Location 3 21 1 4

Geometric Shape 1 7 0 0

Angle 1 7 2 8

Decimal 0 0 2 8

Integer 0 0 3 12

Algebraic equation 1 7 1 4

Variable 1 7 1 4

Constant term 0 0 1 4

Inequality 0 0 1 4

Translation 0 0 1 4

Reflection 0 0 1 4

Linear equation 0 0 1 4

(In)dependent variable 0 0 1 4

Coordinate system 3 21 3 12

Coordinate corresponding 3 21 3 12

Total 14 100 25 100

As seen in Table 9, it can be said that the concepts of the coordinate system and coordinate
corresponding were used in all projects at both levels. It can be the reason that the Scratch
stage is identified by using a coordinate system. According to Table 9, all projects at a
beginner level use location term. It is seen that this term from the 5th grade curriculum is
frequently used by the students by developing a Scratch project. Although students are able to
determine the position of a point according to another given point by using direction and unit
in 5th grade, they can use the coordinate system from 8th grade objectives to define the
location in Scratch stage. Repeat code block was used in all intermediate-level projects. It
was associated with the pattern. Hence students need a term of pattern to develop a Scratch
project at the intermediate level. Also, students may need to understand the term of integers.
Scratch projects examined in this study were associated with the elementary mathematics
curriculum according to level. The frequency of the distribution is given in Table 10.

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Table 10. The Number of Objectives Related Grade According to Level

Grade Level
Scratch Project Level Total
5 6 7 8

Beginner 4 0 0 2 6

Intermediate 4 5 1 6 16

Total 8 5 1 8 22

As seen in Table 10, it can be said that beginner-level Scratch projects were not associated
with any 6th or 7th grade objectives. However, two objectives from 8th grade were examined at
beginner-level Scratch projects. It can be expected because the Scratch stage is defined by a
coordinate system. It is seen that the projects at the intermediate level are a majority in the 8 th
grade. It is followed by the 6th and 5th grade objectives respectively.

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This study aims to obtain implicit learning about students’ mathematical concepts while
developing a Scratch project. Within the scope of the research, six projects that are shared
openly with users and site visitors on the Scratch site are used. Dr. Scratch is used to evaluate
the Scratch projects (Moreno-León & Robles, 2015) under seven aspects over twenty-one
points. In this study, Scratch projects were classified according to their Dr. Scratch scores in
three different levels such as beginner, intermediate, and upper level. The Scratch projects are
limited as the game theme in Scratch. 119 Scratch projects were examined according to
inclusion criteria and nine games with different levels were selected. Three Scratch projects
were identified at each level. Those in the upper level are excluded since they do not meet the
inclusion criteria. In the data analysis process, each code block in every project is analyzed
concerning the mathematical concepts. Then, mathematical concepts were associated with
related objectives in the curriculum.

According to findings, 16 mathematical concepts in the Turkish national elementary

mathematics curriculum were related to developing Scratch projects at beginner and
intermediate levels. Besides, it was observed that some code blocks are related to the Turkish
national secondary school mathematics curriculum. Although related objectives were given in
findings, they are excluded because of out of the scope of this study.

Kaplan and Sarıışık (2019) investigated the difficulties while designing Scratch as a teaching
story. Prospective elementary mathematics teachers were asked to design a Scratch project
related to a mathematics objective. According to this study, participants defined that using
Scratch was not appropriate for each mathematics objective in the Turkish national
elementary mathematics curriculum. They also claimed that there were some issues about
moving in the coordinate system. According to the finding of this study, students used the

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 Selen GALİÇ & Bahadır YILDIZ
Does Scratch Teach Only Programming?

coordinate system while developing Scratch projects at all levels. The objectives of the
coordinate system are present in the 8th grade Turkish national elementary mathematics
curriculum. For this reason, it can be considered that students may have implicit learning
about coordinate systems. Hence, this study is consistent with Kaplan and Sarıışık’s (2019).

According to Table 9, 14 mathematical concepts at the beginner level and 25 mathematical

concepts at the intermediate level are related to develop Scratch projects. As seen in Table
10, Scratch projects at the intermediate level were related to the 6th and 8th grade Turkish
national elementary mathematics curriculum. When it is considered that students use Scratch
in 5th and 6th grade and also the related objectives are in 6th and 8th grade they need, they may
expose implicit learning in accordance with that they do not have conceptual learning.

According to the literature, it is observed that using Scratch in mathematics lessons has a
positive effect on the context of variables (Okuducu, 2020), prime numbers (Çubukluöz,
2019), and integers (Mercan, 2019). Hence, it can be said that these concepts are needed by
students while developing Scratch projects in the information technologies and software class
before the mathematics lesson. For this reason, developing Scratch projects may cause
implicit learning intuitively about mathematical concepts .

Students learn the term of position in 5th grade, addition and subtraction operations with
decimals in 5th grade, and multiplication and division operations with decimals in 6th grade
for the first time according to the Turkish national elementary mathematics curriculum.
Students have misconceptions about multiplication operations with decimals (Aykaç, 2008;
Başgün & Ersoy, 2000). It is observed that decimals are required in Scratch projects at the
intermediate level. It can be considered that it may cause misconceptions because of having
implicit learning about decimals.

It is observed that integers are used in all projects at the intermediate level. Students have
difficulties with negative integers (Altıparmak & Özdoğan, 2010; Hativa & Cohen, 1995;
Kilhamn, 2011). Students cannot understand the minus (-) sign (Erdem, et al., 2015). Besides,
students have difficulties making operations with integers (Işıksal-Bostan, 2009; Janvier,
1983). Hence it can be said that a student may have implicit learning while developing
Scratch projects if s/he can need to use the term of integers without conceptual learning. It
may cause misconceptions. It is also possible to say that it may not. According to Mercan
(2019), using Scratch has a positive effect on teaching integers. This is an important thing to
consider when using Scratch in the learning process.

According to the findings, it was seen that the students used the concept of a variable at both
beginner and intermediate levels. Therefore, information and software technology lessons and
mathematics lessons are considered simultaneously since they depend on each other to
overcome possible misconceptions.

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6. RECOMMENDATIONS
In future studies, studies about implicit learning can be considered by using students’
cognition maps. This current study was limited to the projects included in the research. By
doing similar studies, other mathematical concepts in Scratch projects can be examined.
Besides, upper-level projects were not included in this study. They can also be examined in
future studies. This study enlightens the relationship between the programming in Scratch
and mathematics concept. Previous studies have indicated that Scratch has a positive effect
on mathematics learning. The concept learning during the programming on Scratch will be
held on clearer. The process, as opposed to the product, will be investigated. Students’
individual differences may be enlightened. According to the findings, students may have
implicit learning in accordance with mathematical concepts. Hence, the order of the
objectives can be discussed in the Turkish national elementary mathematics curriculum. The
objectives from whole other disciplines may be arranged as a holistic perspective.

7. ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Bahadır Yıldız holds a BA degree in mathematics education, MA and PhD degree in
computer education and instructional technology. He is an assistant professor at the
Department of Mathematics Education, Hacettepe University. He is the founder of the
www.matematik.us website. His research interests include ICT, algorithm and coding,
misconceptions, interdisciplinarity, games, and artificial intelligence in education.

Selen Galiç holds a BA and MA degree in mathematics education. She is a mathematics

teacher and IB MYP Coordinator in Çakır Schools and a doctorate student at Hacettepe
University. Her research interests include games, technology, and artificial intelligence in
education.

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