Several instructional approaches have been advanced for learning programming. However, effective ways of engaging beginners in programming in K-12 are still unclear, especially among low socioeconomic status learners in technology-deprived learning environments. Understanding the learning path of novice programmers will bridge this gap and explain…

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the Scratch programming environment on student engagement and academic performance in primary informatics education. The research was conducted over three academic years (2020-2023) in educational organizations (ADAN and Navoiy schools) involving 170 first and third-grade students. The Student…

The paper discusses an alternative method of assessing the difficulty of pupils' programming tasks to determine their age appropriateness. Building a program takes the form of its successive iterations. Thus, it is possible to monitor the number of times such a program was built by the solver. The variance of the number of program builds can be…

This paper examines the effectiveness of programming in pairs in the Scratch environment in primary school. The motivation for tackling this issue is based on the successful use of Scratch as a learning environment for any students of programming. The analysis has shown that that programming in pairs produces better results for beginners in…

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents findings on a curricular intervention aimed at integrating computer programming with reading and writing in early elementary school. The purpose of this research was to explore the relation between students' varying literacy levels and their level of success in mastering an introductory programming language.…

We characterize the recently included programming content in Swedish mathematics textbooks for elementary school. Especially, the connection between programming content and traditional mathematical content has been considered. The analytical tools used are based on the so-called 5E's, a theoretical framework of action, developed within the…

Background: Owing to the exponential growth of three-dimensional (3D) environments amongst researchers and educators to create simulation games (SGs) in primary education, there is a growing interest to examine their potential support in computer science courses instead of visual programming environments. Objectives: This study explores the…

This research focuses on student-robot interaction in the learning environment of robotics education (RE) and attempts to explore how it cultivates students' computational thinking (CT). Different from child-robot interactions as investigated in the social robot field, student-robot (S-R) interactions focus mainly on the process of interaction…

Digital literacy is considered to be crucial for social and professional participation. Hence, several projects have been launched in school, as well as extracurricular activities to promote digital literacy in middle school. They aim, among other things, to increase interest in the so-called STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and…

When teachers, researchers, and students describe productively responding to moments of failure in the learning process, what might this mean? Blending prior theoretical and empirical research on the relationship between failure and learning, and empirical results from four data sets that are part of a larger design-based research project, we…

Creativity and Computational Thinking (CT) have been both extensively researched in recent years. However, the associations between them are still not fully understood despite their recognition as essential competencies for the digital age. This study looks to bridge this gap by examining the association between CT and two types of creativity,…

Background and Context: Despite the increasing implementation of coding in early curricula, there are few valid and reliable assessments of coding abilities for young children. This impedes studying learning outcomes and the development and evaluation of curricula. Objective: Developing and validating a new instrument for assessing young…

Scratch is a tool for initial learning of programming, but also for creating educational and entertainment content, making mathematical and scientific projects, simulating and visualizing experiments. This paper examines the effectiveness of Scratch's application in mathematics, in the study of basic geometric shapes. The analysis has shown that…

The ability to code computer programs is considered an important part of literacy in today's society. This paper reports from a case study in two sixth-grade classes where Scratch coding was part of six mathematics lessons. The aim of the study was to investigate how Scratch coding affected students' interest development in coding and in…

This study examines the role of spatial reasoning in learning among 5th and 6th grade students participating in a set of in-school, technology-enhanced, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) making activities. We focus our analysis on a particular type of reasoning: spatial reasoning. Prior research has shown that spatial…