The IMPACT+ Game: Designing Hybrid Learning Environments for Computational Thinking

Early programming education often requires children to coordinate new concepts, representations and tools simultaneously. Unplugged and game-based approaches have the potential to reduce these barriers by making sequencing, turns, loops and debugging tangible, visible and discussable. However, classroom use also raises design challenges. Firstly, children require clear rules, orientation support, meaningful progression, and opportunities for collaborative planning. Secondly, teachers require formats that are feasible within the context of conventional lesson structures. This workshop invites researchers, teacher educators, teachers and designers to explore the potential of unplugged programming games can be extended into hybrid learning environments. The workshop is grounded in the iterative development of the IMPACT project, which involves the design of an unplugged programming game for primary school pupils, and its hybrid extension, Orbit Cleaner. Drawing upon the empirical findings derived from classroom-based trials conducted with pupils and teachers, participants will be tasked with the analysis of selected design tensions, the experimentation with both analogue and digital components, and the development of design patterns for hybrid learning supports. The session will focus on three guiding questions: Which computational thinking practices should be retained as tangible and social? Which forms of digital support can be utilised to enhance feedback, orientation and progression? And how can such designs remain inclusive, motivating and classroom-feasible? The objective of this workshop is to establish a set of principles for designing hybrid programming activities for primary education, with a particular focus on the transition between unplugged planning and digital execution.