Features of Using the mBlock Program in the Scratch Environment in Teaching
with STREAM Technology in High School
Abstract. In the leading countries of the world, learning through STEM, STEAM and
STREAM is included in the curriculum of secondary schools. While STEM is about strengthening
the role of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in education, STREAM is about
building systematic thinking skills by adding reading and art to the role of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics in education. In STREAM development, you can use the mBlock
programming environment based on Scratch+Arduino.
In secondary schools of the Republic of Kazakhstan, robotics is often used in the teaching of
computer science using STEM technology. As a result of studying informatics, students have not
developed the knowledge, skills, and abilities to create digital products using art, mathematics, and
engineering. Therefore, there is a need to develop STREAM technology in teaching computer
science using STEM technology in high school. In this regard, the purpose of the research work
“Determining the specificity of the STREAM teaching method in secondary school” was set. To
achieve this goal, firstly, the state of teaching STREAM teaching methods in secondary schools in
the republic was determined and the results were analyzed. Secondly, an educational program was
developed that combines engineering and mathematics sciences and teaches how to create a project
that builds students’ ability to think systematically in the mBlock environment, built on the basis of
Scratch+Arduino hardware-programming. The effectiveness of the STREAM teaching method was
determined by conducting an optional lesson of the IT class according to the compiled curriculum.
The experience of the research was carried out at R. Koshkarbayev secondary school No. 1
and IT school-lyceum of the city of Koschy. The teaching of the Scratch+Arduino hardware
programming framework, which took place in computer science optional classes, was defined with
mBlock code and ways of practical implementation were introduced. The curriculum of the optional
lesson for 8th grade includes a total of 36 hours. In addition to the proposed training course
program, digital educational resources were compiled, the teaching methodology was used in the
educational process, and the effectiveness of the proposed teaching methods was determined as a
result of the experiment.
In the future, the training course program and digital educational resources of the course
“mBlock Programming based on Scratch+Arduino” can be used in STEM classrooms or in elective
computer science classes in any schools in the country.
Keywords: STEM, STREAM, Scratch based, mBlock programming, Arduino, computer
science, education.
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