Comparison between the use of pseudocode and visual programming in programming teaching: An evaluation from scratch tool

This paper presents the initial results of a research that aims to evaluate the contribution of the Scratch visual programming language in the development of computational thinking in comparison to the use of pseudocode. The comparison scenario was the teaching of programming logic for higher education students of the Physics course. The research was outlined with the methodology of action research, allowing the evaluation of the use of language at the end of the approach of each content delivered during the research. The presented results refer to the approach of two contents, of the four established for the conclusion of the research. The steps of approaching each content were initiated with the application of the diagnostic evaluation, and finalized with the evaluation of performance. The results indicate a progression in knowledge about programming logic. In this way, it was possible to verify that the use of the Scratch language contributed to the learning of programming logic.