Robotics has emerged as a popular interdisciplinary pedagogical approach in the field of education to teach children STEM concepts. By providing playful learning experiences, the use of robots engages children in an active learning process, making it an effective tool to promote their targeted knowledge, skills, and disposition towards STEM,…

Coding must take its place among the fundamentals of education globally, along with lit­eracy, numeracy, and the sciences. The purpose of teaching stu­dents to code isn't to turn them into the software developers of tomorrow -- though it's a wonderful avenue for doing so -- but rather to give them a basic life skill of creating with tech­nology,…

Purpose: Much remains unknown about how young children orient to computational objects and how we as learning scientists can orient to young children as computational thinkers. While some research exists on how children learn programming, very little has been written about how they learn the technical skills needed to operate technologies or to…

Background: Today, computational thinking (CT), which is considered to be a form of literacy, has taken its place in the ICT curriculum of many countries at the K-12 level. Therefore, there is a need for more evidence with regards to a theoretical and practical understanding of CT skills' development of K-12 students. Objectives: The purpose of…

Engineering and technology teachers have advocated using robotics and coding to cultivate students' computational thinking and problem-solving skills at PreK-12 levels. Understanding teachers' perceptions of how preschool children develop strategies and skills for engaging in robotics and coding activities is crucial for promoting the early use of…

Our goal was to study the impact of coding on preschoolers' math abilities and to analyze their coding behaviors. Participants were six preschoolers, four years of age, from a play-based accredited program. We measured their Math abilities using TEAM and observed their coding behaviors with a structured instrument. Children used a robotic toy to…

Background/purpose: At the beginning of the 21st century, Computational Thinking (CT) and coding were typically considered part of secondary education programs, focusing on programming and algorithm development. The early childhood classroom was not expected to find students who developed coding skills. Nevertheless, as has been the case lately,…

Developing computational thinking (CT) skills at an early age can help develop literacy, science, and mathematics skills; however, CT instruction in grades K-2 remains limited. This study examined the perceptions of 45 K-2 teachers from 30 school districts before and after a CT professional development (PD) experience. The PD included two online…

Learning coding during early childhood is an effective way for children to practice computational thinking. Aspects of children's motivation can increase the likelihood that children approach computational thinking activities with enthusiasm and deep engagement. Gender inequities may interfere with children's readiness to take advantage of…

The aim of this study was to explore how the Coding as Another Language using ScratchJr (CAL-ScratchJr) curriculum, developed by Boston College's DevTech Research Group utilizing the ScratchJr app, impacted second grade students' computational thinking, coding skills, and reading comprehension. To accomplish this, the research team randomly…

Aural preparation is operationally defined as hearing, performing, decoding, and creating rhythms or pitches aurally prior to the introduction of music notation. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of aural preparation on second grade students' music literacy rhythm skills (i.e. reading, performing, and dictation). The research…

Piecewise growth models (PGMs) were used to estimate and model changes in the preliteracy skill development of kindergartners in a moderately sized school district in the Pacific Northwest. PGMs were applied to interrupted time-series (ITS) data that arose within the context of a response-to-intervention (RtI) instructional framework. During the…

Developing leadership among early childhood professionals has become increasingly important as investing in children's early years has been championed as a public and private national and international priority. Two case studies present how oral inquiry and specifically, the Prospect Center's Descriptive Review of a Professional Dilemma of…

Research Findings: The current study examined how children's parent-reported compliance at age 3 (36 months) moderated the effects of 2 dimensions of directly observed early care and education (ECE) process quality (positivity/responsivity and cognitive stimulation) during the prekindergarten year (54 months) on teacher reports of children's…

The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers structure class in elementary physical education and the impact their decisions have on the amount of appropriate practice students receive. Participants for this study were 10 third grade physical education teachers and their students. Each teacher taught two successive skill-related lessons…