Mixed-effects models are an analytic technique for modeling repeated measurement or nested data. This paper explains the logic of mixed-effects modeling and describes two examples of mixed-effects analyses using R. The intended audience of the paper is psychologists who specialize in cognitive development research. Therefore, the concepts and…

Computer Programming is believed to have effect on creativity, reasoning, analytic and mathematical skills. This cognitive development is at a cost from both ends of students and teachers of computer programming. Its abstractive nature makes it difficult to teach and learn hence, the enormous hours spent in teaching, learning and developing…

Underpinning the teaching of coding with Computational Thinking has proved relevant for diverse learners, particularly given the increasing demand in upskilling for today's labour market. While literature on computing education is vast, it remains unexplored how existing CT conceptualisations relate to the learning opportunities needed for a…

As one of the core skills of the 21st century, computational thinking has received increasing attention from educators and researchers. Although some research has been conducted on computational thinking, few studies examined the impact of learning activities on students' computation thinking skills from the perspective of cognitive development.…

This paper examined the effect of the Unplugged Programming Teaching Aids (UPTA) on students' computational thinking and classroom interaction. A set of UPTA was created and used in a primary school in southern China. A total of 48 students aged 6-8 were assigned to two classes, with the same instructor and learning materials, but only the…

In the program-driven information age, programming education is concerned by the global education system, which makes the cultivation of children's programming ability become the focus of attention. However, there is no clear definition of programming ability and teaching model. Through the snowball method, 86 studies from 1980 to 2020 were…

Abstraction is one of the most fundamental ideas in computer science (CS), and as such, according to Bruner, it should be taught spirally, starting as early as possible and revisited at every level of education. However, teaching CS abstraction to novices is a very challenging task, and CS educational research has often demonstrated students'…

Sorting is a fundamental computing concept. As for today, it is taught at the secondary school level. However, this kind of algorithm is an obstacle for some students due to its high level of abstraction. To prevent discouragement as well as to incorporate a fun and challenging algorithmic task, a novel tablet-based digital game,…

This article presents a study aimed at examining the novice student answers in an introductory programming final e-exam to identify misconceptions and types of errors. Our study used the Delphi concept inventory to identify student misconceptions and skill, rule, and knowledge-based errors approach to identify the types of errors made by novices…

Background and Context: The use of block-based programming environments is purported to be a good way to gently introduce novice computer programmers to computer programming. A small, but growing body of research examines the differences between block-based and text-based programming environments. Objective: Thus, the purpose of this study was to…

Intelligent Tutoring Systems authoring tools are highly complex educational software applications used to produce highly complex software applications (i.e. ITSs). How should our assumptions about the target users (authors) impact the design of authoring tools? In this article I first reflect on the factors leading to my original 1999 article on…