Programming has become an essential component of K-12 education and serves as a pathway for developing computational thinking skills. Given the complexity of programming and the advanced skills it requires, previous research has introduced user-friendly tools to support young learners. However, our interviews with six programming educators revealed that current tools often fail to reflect classroom learning objectives, offer flexible, high-quality guidance, and foster student creativity. This highlights the need for more adaptive and reflective tools. Therefore, we introduced MindScratch, a multimodal generative AI (GAI) powered visual programming support tool. MindScratch aims to balance structured classroom activities with free programming creation, supporting students in completing creative programming projects based on teacher-set learning objectives while also providing programming scaffolding. Our user study results indicate that, compared to the baseline, MindScratch more effectively helps students achieve high-quality projects aligned with learning objectives. It also enhances students' computational thinking skills and creative thinking. Overall, we believe that GAI-driven educational tools like MindScratch offer students a focused and engaging learning experience.

翻译：编程已成为K-12教育的重要组成部分，并作为培养计算思维技能的途径。鉴于编程的复杂性及其所需的高级技能，先前研究已引入用户友好的工具来支持年轻学习者。然而，我们对六位编程教育者的访谈表明，现有工具往往未能反映课堂学习目标、提供灵活且高质量的指导，并激发学生的创造力。这凸显了对更具适应性和反思性工具的需求。为此，我们推出了MindScratch，一种由多模态生成式人工智能驱动的可视化编程支持工具。MindScratch旨在平衡结构化的课堂活动与自由的编程创作，支持学生基于教师设定的学习目标完成创意编程项目，同时提供编程脚手架。我们的用户研究结果表明，与基线相比，MindScratch能更有效地帮助学生完成符合学习目标的高质量项目。它还提升了学生的计算思维能力和创造性思维。总体而言，我们相信像MindScratch这样的GAI驱动教育工具能为学生提供专注且富有吸引力的学习体验。