2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

While introductory computer science platforms have successfully lowered the barrier to entry for many students, the typical one-to-one device model often leads to individual, head-down work, limiting opportunities for authentic peer collaboration. This "parallel play" paradigm, where students work independently on their own screens, can inhibit the development of crucial teamwork, communication, and negotiation skills that are central to problem-solving and real-world engineering practices. There is a need for educational tools that not only teach computational concepts but also actively scaffold collaborative engagement.

This paper discusses the collaborative potential of SnapBots, a programming platform where students use pencil and paper to draw flowcharts that represent how characters should act in a digital environment. Students draw these flowcharts, either individually or as a small group, then snap a photo of their flowchart and upload it to the SnapBots platform running on the teacher’s computer which projects the character to the whole class. Using generative AI, SnapBots converts their drawing into working Python code that brings a character to life in a shared digital environment.

SnapBots encourages collaboration between students on two levels. First, some activities ask students to work together to draw a flowchart. SnapBots uses the physical process of drawing as a forcing function for group discussion and co-design. Without a single screen and keyboard, students are able to gather around a piece of paper with each having their own pencil, leading to an environment geared towards collaboration as many students work together to design an agent. The second level is that many generated characters can interact together in a single digital environment like a playground or soccer field. Encouraged by the goals motivated by the environment, groups of students are encouraged to communicate, work together, and negotiate.

We evaluated this collaborative affordance in a two-part study with upper-elementary and middle school students in Fall 2025. In the first session, students worked individually to create their own characters, which were then added to a communal "dance party" environment. This established the concept of a shared digital space. In the second session, students were placed in small groups of two to three and tasked with creating a team of soccer-playing agents.

Initially, most groups defaulted to a simple, homogenous strategy where every agent chased the ball. However, with minimal instructor prompting, a shift occurred. Groups began to decompose the complex problem of "playing soccer" into specialized roles. They negotiated tasks and co-designed agents with distinct purposes, such as "goalies" that defended a specific area and aggressive "forwards" programmed to score. This transition from a simplistic, parallel approach to a complex, interdependent system demonstrates a tangible progression in collaborative problem-solving. Our findings suggest that creating characters for a shared environment using pencil-and-paper programming can serve as a powerful medium for moving students beyond individual work, fostering genuine teamwork, joyful play, and collaborative systems-level thinking.