Inspiring Youth To Programming Through Engagement With Space Technology

Abstract

This paper describes a study of the effect that participating in the coding challenge Astro Pi has on children’s interest and motivation for science and technology, as perceived by their teachers. The European Space Agency (ESA) offers children and young adults the opportunity to run their computer codes on specially designed raspberry pi computers aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This ESA-project, called Astro Pi, allows the participants to learn and practice python programming while also engaging with space and space technology. In addition to developing programming skills, the Astro Pi project studied here also includes elements of art, as the task is to create a piece of pixel art to be displayed for the astronauts at the ISS. As part of an interdisciplinary, authentic learning project general skills such as teamwork, communication and problem solving are practiced. Since both the authentic learning approach and space as a subject have been shown to contribute to increased motivation among pupils, Astro Pi has great potential to increase pupil interest in STEAM. In order to evaluate the effect on pupil interest and motivation of participating in this program a series of interviews was conducted among teachers who had participated in the Astro Pi challenge. Our main findings were that Astro Pi engages most pupils, and teachers especially mentioned the girls’ interest. The fact that it is ‘real’ and about space provides initial motivation to get started, but for most pupils, the task itself becomes motivating. It was also a learning process for the teachers themselves. Challenges they pointed out were that the project required more time than recommended and that especially the younger pupils lacked general computer skills. They also saw the possibility to make a shorter and more structured guide for the pupils to use.