Towards the Design of Notional Machines for Simple Block-Based Languages

Abstract

One of the distinct difficulties of learning to program is that programs have associated a dynamic behavior, which novices are unable to notice. Some authors have advocated for teaching explicitly conceptual models of language dynamics, called “notional machines”. Block-based languages exhibit some features that make their learning easier, but it is also recommendable to use models of the execution of their programs. Unfortunately, descriptions of these languages are scarce and incomplete. In this paper, we present the results of inquiring into the behavior of two simple block-based languages, namely Code.org and ScratchJr. As a future work, we plan to extend these behaviors to notional machines. Furthermore, the experience gained will allow addressing in the future more complex block-based languages, such as Scratch.