Background and Context: Students' self-efficacy toward computing affect their participation in related tasks and courses. Self-efficacy is likely influenced by students' initial experiences and exposure to computer science (CS) activities. Moreover, student interest in a subject likely informs their ability to effectively regulate their learning…

This paper describes a pilot study that explores students learning how to program via a multi-disciplinary approach. The study participants were eleven 6th grade students who learned programming fundamentals via music activities in a Scratch 3.0 environment. These activities included the programming of familiar melodies and the development of…

This study investigated how a computer science (CS) problem-based curriculum impacted elementary students' CS learning and attitudes. Four sixth-grade teachers and 200 of their students participated in the study. Researchers developed a CS curriculum in collaboration with the teachers, which consisted of two main units: (1) an introduction to…

Computational thinking (CT) has been introduced in primary schools worldwide. However, rich classroom-based evidence and research on how to assess and support students' CT through programming are particularly scarce. This empirical study investigates 4th grade students' (N = 57) CT in a comparatively comprehensive and fine-grained manner by…

Background and Context: In today's increasingly digital world, it is critical that all students learn to think computationally from an early age. Assessments of Computational Thinking (CT) are essential for capturing information about student learning and challenges. When programming is used as a vehicle to foster CT skills, assessment of CT…

This article presents a quasi-experiment which, with the use of Arduino and Scratch for Arduino (S4A), attempts to study their effect on self-efficacy and motivation towards Science Education, Computational Thinking (CT) and the views of 5th Grade students about concepts of electricity. It was conducted on the 5th Grade of a Primary School in…

Background and Context: Learners struggle with conceptual understanding of introductory programming concepts such as variables, expressions, and loops. Objective: We examine whether and how designed activities for conceptual exploration support preliminary engagement with and learning of foundational and often hard-to-grasp programming concepts…

Aim/Purpose: Although many computer science measures have been proposed, visualizing individual students' capabilities is difficult, as those measures often rely on specific tools and methods or are not graded. To solve these problems, we propose a rubric for measuring and visualizing the effects of learning computer programming for elementary…

This paper explores Computational Thinking (CT) through the experiences and interactions of sixth-grade students as they were engaging in a science lesson utilizing robotics. This robotics unit institutes the shifting from traditional to engaging hands-on activities coupled with CT skills that are exciting, intriguing, and inviting to students.…

This research study explored robotics as the catalyst for computational thinking (CT) by sixth-grade students as they are engaged in a science lesson. The interactions, understandings, and applications are discussed, along with the participants' connections and implementations of CT concepts (decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition, and…

This study examined what factors might have a positive impact on students' learning outcomes in mathematical understanding and computational thinking skills. Specifically, whether the proposed instructional design combining computational perspectives and an embodied approach in mathematics learning improves (a) mathematics learning, (b)…

Two studies were conducted to examine the use of grounded embodied pedagogy, construction of Imaginary Worlds (Study 1), and context of instructional materials (Study 2) for developing learners' Computational Thinking (CT) Skills and Concept knowledge during the construction of digital artifacts using Scratch, a block-based programming…