Envisioning Arduino Action: A collaborative tool for physical computing in educational settings

Micro-controllers like Arduino are increasingly used in classroom settings to teach skills, attitudes and knowledge around technology. Education around these tools is often set in group contexts and collaboration is typically considered an important part of the learning process. However, much of the software tools currently available are still designed around a laptop programming paradigm that tends to restrict collaboration rather than encourage shifting of roles and sharing of experiences. This paper explores how to design tools that invite collaborative interactions, in particular how mobile software tools, with heavy usage of video as an interactive resource, could allow for collaborative sketching and understanding. Based on contextual inquiries with educators, observations and engagements with students in classroom settings, and a workshop with Arduino Education, this paper sketches out a vision for how the software tools used for learning physical computing can be re-designed to better work within the context of group work from the observations, for groups of students aged 14–16-years old.