Teaching coding and computational thinking is an emerging educational imperative, now embedded in compulsory curriculum in the United States, Finland, the UK, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Australia. This meta-synthesis of 49 studies critically reviews recent international research (2009-2022) of coding and computational…

This study delved into the impact of educational robotics, virtual coding, and unplugged coding on the problem-solving, computational thinking (CT), and coding skills of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Employing a pretest-posttest experimental design, the study encompassed 351 EFL students distributed across four groups to compare…

Policy emphases on early childhood and elementary computer science education have led to the development of many developmentally appropriate computer science and robotics tools, pedagogies, and high-quality curricula. One example is the integrated Coding as Another Language pedagogy for coding, literacy, and social and emotional learning. The…

There is a growing body of knowledge on coding and computational thinking for young students in mathematics education, and several attempts to lower the threshold for learning programming and programming languages have been reported. This study focuses on the challenges of teaching programming in a linguistically heterogeneous classroom by…

This short paper presents an educational approach to teaching three popular methods for encoding DNA sequences: one-hot encoding, binary encoding, and integer encoding. Aimed at bioinformatics and computational biology students, our learning intervention focuses on developing practical skills in implementing these essential techniques for…

The domain of early childhood education has witnessed an increasing emphasis on developing coding and computational thinking (CT) abilities. Scholarly investigations have delved into appropriate approaches for enhancing these proficiencies within early childhood classrooms. The present study aims to investigate the impact of a digital story design…

This study aims to develop and validate an age-appropriate, easily manipulated, and robot-based assessment named Computational Thinking Observational Scale (CTOS) for 3- to 5-year-olds. The study sample included 46 preschoolers (M[subscript age] = 3.57 years, SD = 0.36). Expert judgment confirmed excellent content validity, yielding a Scale-level…

The importance of incorporating digital technologies into early childhood education is now widely accepted to help position children as creative producers and not just consumers of technology. Early childhood educators in turn have a key role to play in developing technology-related skills and competencies such as coding and computational thinking…

Background: Computational thinking (CT) is an essential skill for preparing the younger generation to succeed in an AI-driven world, with pair programming emerging as a widely used approach to foster these skills. However, the role of individual factors and mutual engagement in shaping CT skills within pair programming remains underexplored,…

This article aims to characterise geometric and computational thinking of future Early Childhood Education teachers through participating in a robotic problem-solving activity for 5-year-old pupils using MatataBot, MatataLab's educational robot. The study, carried out during academic year 2022-2023, involved 42 early childhood education students…

With the growing popularity of computational thinking (CT) classes in K-12 schools, it is important to investigate public perceptions of these initiatives. Analyzing public discussions and opinions provides valuable insights that can inform future educational policies and reforms. In this paper, we collected questions and answers related to CT…

The introduction of programming education in K-12 schools to promote computational thinking has attracted a great deal of attention from scholars and educators. Debugging code is a central skill for students, but is also a considerable challenge when learning to program. Learners at the K-12 level often lack confidence in programming debugging due…

Background/purpose: This research explores the use of robotics to facilitate the learning of computer programming among non-specialist pre-service teachers with no prior programming experience. With the increasing demand for 21st-century teaching competencies, it is essential to equip future educators with computational thinking (CT) skills, even…

In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of cooperative learning on the computational thinking skills and academic performances of middle school students in the computational problem-solving approach. We used the pretest-posttest control group design of the quasiexperimental method. In the research, computational problem-solving…

Aim and background: Today, students are encouraged to develop spatial visualization ability to meet the challenges of digital technologies impacting their daily life and education when exposed more time to a virtual 3D environment. This study investigated the effect of cognitive flexibility levels on students' spatial visualization abilities and…