Thanks for sharing this project! I appreciate how this approach is driven by a desire to increase self-efficacy and self-confidence to non-dominant groups in computer science. Could you talk more about the specific affordances of the AR/VR space, and compare it against using physical embodiments of coding primitives (e.g., wooden blocks)? How does the AR/VR technology specifically augment the experience of the young people?

Welcome to Embodied Coding, a project funded by the National Science Foundation through the program, Cybearlearning for Work at the Human-Technology Frontier.  This video offers an overview of our work to develop whole-body approaches to learning to code, leveraging Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR).  We hypothesize that human understanding of abstract computational concepts (e.g. functions, data, variables, and so forth) is grounded in embodied experience – and aim to facilitate learning of these concepts through an AR/VR platform whose affordances allow users to exercise their embodied knowledge as they produce computer programs.  Feel free to reach out with questions and comments!  We look forward to your feedback.

I am really looking forward to seeing your hypotheses tested with underrepresented students who are reluctant learners of CS. I was interviewed as a high school CS educator regarding this project! I’m moving on to specialize in interactive intelligence in a CS grad program, so I look forward to following this research. 

Very nice video and interesting project! I noticed in the video that you used both hand tracking and the controllers. When using the controllers to model/construct code, is there haptic feedback? Do you think the lack of haptic feedback with using one's hands may have any sort of 'negative' effect (i.e., use of the controllers may facilitate embodied interaction to a higher degree)? Or do you think the reverse may be the case? 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you produce in this project!

Interesting, Ying. To me, one of the many uninitiated, it seems akin to VR entertainment. ... I hope outreach to BIPOC students works.

Very interesting idea; I'm really interested in seeing how your hypotheses test out, as well as how the technology itself progresses. Thank you.

The video imagery focused on VR; I'm wondering about your thoughts on how embodied coding would be impacted by seeing the coding on top of a real-world situation related to what's being coded. e.g., what if (samples of) the variables are actually in the room, building on what you suggest about "dropping the variable into the container".

So cool when you can find a project that is both useful and fun. From what I'm seeing, VR is highly appealing to kids of all ages. I have no doubt that this can only make STEM and CS even more appealing to a wider audience! Good luck!!

So cool when you can find a project that is both useful and fun. From what I'm seeing, VR is highly appealing to kids of all ages. I have no doubt that this can only make STEM and CS even more appealing to a wider audience! Good luck!!

Very cool project, the idea of embodiment in problem solving is very powerful but overlooked. Two questions:

* the video seems to focus solely in VR, and I'd imagine that working in an AR environment would significantly expand the possibilities of mapping algorithmic entities to physical objects. Are you working on that direction as well?

* Also from the videos, it seems that you are creating some kind fo visual programming environment in VR… where you have containers representing variables, blocks for operations, and connectors for flow of information. I wondering if even more direct translations, like in puzzle games such as LittleBigPlanet, where a algorithmic rules are embedded into a virtual mechanism or system that more immediately tangible.

As a relative new user of VR, I find it fatiguing to use. Is there a limit to how long students are comfortable in the VR environment?

Thank you for sharing this project.  I have worked with high school students using VR, but not in this context.  I taught programming and they built software for the HTC Vive.  This is very intriguing from a meta-cognitive perspective.  It is almost like physical recursion!  I look forward to hearing more about the findings from your work! 

I find this research very interesting. In my own work, I am looking at abstract concepts that do not have all the characteristics of physical entities. They lack mass, energy, and observability, but nevertheless, they can have causal effects on the world. They are concepts such as democracy, freedom, motivation, emotion, peace, obstruction etc.  I'll be very interested in how this research with abstract computational concepts develops, and to see its possible relevance to the study of less-than-fully-physical concepts.

Ying, we are just starting a CS strand of activity with partners in the Middle East, and I would love to learn whether there are ways that we could connect with the innovation your group is advancing. I am not sure how it could play out, but my intuition is that there could be some powerful synergies.  We are based up the street from you in Los Angeles and Malibu.  I hope to connect post forum on this.  Many thanks.

What wonderful ideas to explore for new coding interfaces. I can see how engaging this could be for many learners. I was specifically intrigued by the visual appeal of how control structures looked in the interface.... have you considered (or do you already) take advantage of the fact that you have a 3D space to work in?  I'm curious how you would leverage that - in thinking about all scratch-like or text-based coding environments are 2D, the affordance of depth seems like a highly novel aspect for investigation. Perhaps there are some ways to represent abstraction in novel ways?  Thanks again, this is incredibly creative work!

Interesting video, team! The "container" metaphor reminded me of Boxer, a variant of Logo that I admittedly worked on circa 1985 or so. You might want to look up Andy diSessa's papers on Boxer -- here's one -- Andy was very thoughtful about principles like Spatial Metaphor and Naive Realism -- and although your tech is newer, the principles may be helpful to you.

Very interesting video, and one that raises so many questions, such as how far can you get in teaching about abstract concepts through physical motion and extended, embodied metaphor? I will be fascinated to learn about your findings from this project, especially transfer of concepts from VR to a more traditional coding environment.

Thanks, Pendred, for your insight.  I agree that transfer of learning to 2D visual programming or text-based coding is an important question to address.  For now, our focus centers on how the affordances of coding in 3D space can facilitate computational concept learning.  But you make a good point -- and we will must definitely keep in mind the importance of transfer of knowledge and skills to 2D platforms as we design our coding environment.  Also, it may not be clear from the video, but we are ultimately planning to design a coding system (akin to Scratch in some ways) for Augmented Reality.  The examples shown in the video are just prototypes created in VR for development purposes.