Remixing as a Pathway to Computational Thinking
This provides evidence for learning theories in social computing, with implications for designers of educational systems, though it is incremental as it quantitatively validates existing ideas.
The study tested whether remixing multimedia programming projects in the Scratch online community promotes computational thinking, finding that users who remix more often have larger programming command repertoires and are more likely to use computational concepts after exposure.
Theorists and advocates of "remixing" have suggested that appropriation can act as a pathway for learning. We test this theory quantitatively using data from more than 2.4 million multimedia programming projects shared by more than 1 million users in the Scratch online community. First, we show that users who remix more often have larger repertoires of programming commands even after controlling for the numbers of projects and amount of code shared. Second, we show that exposure to computational thinking concepts through remixing is associated with increased likelihood of using those concepts. Our results support theories that young people learn through remixing, and have important implications for designers of social computing systems.