Over the past few years, physical computing has become increasingly important within computer science education in schools. As a discipline in which aspects of hardware and software need to be addressed in an integrative manner, there is great potential to impart knowledge about the technical functioning of computers and emerging boundaries.

Unfortunately, this potential is often not fully exploited. Rather, it can be observed that many teachers are deterred from using physical computing devices in the classroom, particularly due to the increased range of possible errors, or only do so to a very limited extent, for example by concentrating only on very simple sensors and actuators such as buttons and LEDs.

As a result, manufacturers are increasingly releasing devices that hide important technical processes in black boxes, thereby limiting potential sources of error. This is advantageous in certain teaching situations, but this approach undermines the very potential to gain knowledge about the technical foundations and physical limits of computer systems.

In this paper, three approaches are examined in order to make technical aspects of computer science in the context of physical computing compatible with the conditions prevailing in computer science lessons at school, where teachers are limited in terms of organization and content, so that the focus of actual computer science knowledge and competence areas must not be lost sight of.

One approach here is the provision of support materials in the form of universally applicable troubleshooting guides for errors of different origins. These should enable students to analyze the devices from a more abstract perspective and further narrow down or exclude errors. This procedure was tested on several examples as part of this work and accompanied in terms of content as part of a study. Initial test results already show an improvement in the troubleshooting competence of errors in different categories.

This work also investigated the extent to which the development environment used to program the device and the programming paradigm on which it is based contribute to students producing higher quality code that is easier for them to understand and therefore more extensible. While many development environments are available for creating imperative programs, a state-based development environment was designed, created and practically tested in comparison with existing software.

A third factor is the hardware: When selecting a physical computing device, teachers are often faced with the question of whether to use a modular, technically transparent device, which often offers a wide range of errors as described at the beginning and keeps students away from the actual computer science core, or whether to use a device that hides processes in black boxes. Possibilities were tested to make technical processes semi-transparent so that they can be analyzed and viewed by students, but do not have to be. To this end, various procedures were developed to conceal information processing processes on the software and hardware side in optionally resolvable black boxes. The various procedures were tested in practice in a feasibility study.

Keywords: Physical Computing, Education, trouble shooting, STEM, education technology.