Umm...where's the research on the efficacy of the change on how skilled the kid becomes at programming? All I see is they self-assessed that it was easier with pictures, and they were engaged longer. Great. But DID THEY LEARN TO CODE BETTER?
The algebra comparison is telling; "a study was done that showed that 92.9% of kids using the app achieved mastery of basic algebra after 1.5 hours of play" - where's the similar comparison?
And, how do we measure 'mastery'? Because the mathematical lexicon requires numbers, not pictures, and coding non-trivial things are done with languages that are text, not pictures, the way we test that is also important.
Note that fundamentally I agree with their conclusion that, pursuant to being marketable, they HAVE to use pictures, because people's impressions matter. But in terms of actual benefit, I'd want to know more details.
The algebra comparison is telling; "a study was done that showed that 92.9% of kids using the app achieved mastery of basic algebra after 1.5 hours of play" - where's the similar comparison?
And, how do we measure 'mastery'? Because the mathematical lexicon requires numbers, not pictures, and coding non-trivial things are done with languages that are text, not pictures, the way we test that is also important.
Note that fundamentally I agree with their conclusion that, pursuant to being marketable, they HAVE to use pictures, because people's impressions matter. But in terms of actual benefit, I'd want to know more details.