The concept, development and assessment of computational thinking have increasingly become the focus of research in recent years. Most of this type of research focuses on older children or adults. Preschool age is a sensitive period when many skills develop intensively, so the development of computational thinking skills can already begin at this…

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…

Many K-12 computer science (CS) education initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels have recently started to focus on engaging the young children. Although most CS education research has focused on the secondary level, only minimal research has explored how computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) can be taught in elementary…

This study was conducted to examine the effect of the Intelligence Games Preschool Program on the math skills of 60-72 month-old children. In the research, a model with pre-test post-test control group, which is one of the quasi-experimental models, was used. A total of 30 children, 15 of them from the experimental group and 15 of the control…

Tangible programming tools (TPTs) are promising teaching aids in programming courses due to their interactivity and ability to enhance early childhood students' computational thinking, spatial reasoning, and executive function skills. However, it remains unclear whether TPTs support these skills simultaneously. This study examines the impact of…

The aim of this pre-experimental study is to evaluate the acquisition level of counting skills of a 3-year-old classroom made up of 14 children through a specific instructional design. To this end, an instructional proposal to improve these mathematical skills was designed. Before and after the intervention, we measured the students' level…

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,…

Despite efforts to broaden participation in computer science and its related fields, there exist stark disparities in participation in computer related fields by gender, race/ethnicity, and socio-economic status. One approach to combat these disparities is to expose children to computing concepts early, to provide them with the foundational skills…

Mobile learning techniques have brought the potential of scaffolding information in real-world context that allows learners to interact more actively with their learning content. In this study, we present an interactive learning approach that allows learners to interact with their learning content in real-world context. With learning environment…

The relation between mathematical achievement in early childhood and future academic success is well established. However, the effect of instruction on mathematical performance is less well-documented and often reliant upon self-report instruction measures and standardized achievement measures. Therefore, this study seeks to use observational data…

In many prekindergarten classes, children begin the day by singing a song as part of their opening routine. In reflecting on opening routines in public prekindergarten classrooms across Michigan, the authors have been struck by how often small changes in teachers' routines or materials could enrich the mathematical engagement of children. The goal…

Teachers in early childhood and elementary classrooms (grades K-5) have been using ten-frames as an instructional tool to support students' mathematics skill development for many years. Use of the similar five-frame has been limited, however, despite its apparent potential as an instructional scaffold in the early elementary grades. Due to scant…

The present study utilized a quasi-experimental design to investigate the effects of a data dissemination strategy on the development of letter naming and object counting skills in preschoolers. The intervention involved the repeated assessment of these skills and a framework for how the resulting data were made available to teachers. The…

Head Start is the largest publicly funded preschool program in the U.S., and one of its primary goals is to improve the school readiness of low-income children. As has been widely reported, the first randomized trial of Head Start in the program's history found some evidence that it is achieving this goal. Receiving one year of Head Start had…

The principle of inversion--that a + b - b must equal a--requires a sensitivity to the relation between addition and subtraction that is critical for understanding arithmetic. Use of inversion, albeit inconsistent, has been observed in school-age children, but when use of a computational shortcut based on inversion emerges and how awareness of the…