Matti Nelimarkka and Arto Vihavainen have been thinking how to integrate programming into subjects - other than mathematics - in school environment. The goal was to make an interactive programming platform that demonstrates the concepts of the subject in question.
For example, in social sciences, the pupil can analyze and learn the Finnish taxation system through writing program logic for an application that taxes people -- the Finnish taxation system is a part of the 9th grade curriculum. When programming is used as a tool to understand the tax system, pupils can play on different tax systems and discuss the differences by looking at real tax outcomes - an important part of the system is visualization, which gives pupils a real-time view on how their taxation system would tax people with different incomes.
An initial proof of concept exists, and the development takes place in Github. The next steps for the product development include user centric discussions with educators, to understand how they perceive the idea. The feedback from educators will be used to improve the concept, which will be followed by a user study with real pupils who will use this to learn in a classroom. Although at an initial state, the idea has already been merited in Finland in the Apps4Education competition. Follow us in Github to stay tuned about the developments.