Learning computer programming can be challenging for primary school students due to its abstract concepts. While teachers seek effective ways to introduce such concepts, the application of learning objects (LOs) can potentially reduce the effort of creating new material from and allows teachers to adapt LOs to students' needs. Although numerous…

Today computing is intricate in all aspects of our lives, beginning with communications and education to banking, information security, health, shopping, and social media. Development of the computing is proportional to the development of software which is becoming a serious part of all daily lives. This paper, therefore, assessed the impact of…

Previous research has invested much effort in understanding how programming can contribute to the development of young learners' computational thinking (CT) in traditional K-12 classroom settings. Relatively few studies have examined programming for CT in informal online communities, especially for large scale quantitative research. With the…

Computational thinking is an important skill in computer science since the 1960s, and it is closely related to problem solving. Almost all research related to computational thinking mentions problem solving. Although some research has been conducted on computational thinking, few studies examined the impact of personal traits on students'…

The purpose of the qualitative study was to investigate experiences of first-time board-game users (29 elementary school students) in playing "Coding Ocean" (CO) to learn computational thinking. CO was a two-team strategy board game and was designed for children developing basic understanding of computational thinking. Participation…

Recently there has been a change in elementary curricula to focus on computational thinking, however, a good curriculum needs to be matched with good learning or teaching strategies. This study explores design-based learning (DBL) in elementary students to examine the development of computational thinking and to support knowledge construction in…

In this study, a predictive model is constructed to analyze learners' performance in programming tasks using data of programming behavioral events and behavioral sequences. First, this study identifies behavioral events from log data and applies lag sequence analysis to extract behavioral sequences that reflect learners' programming strategies.…

Logistic regression models have traditionally been used to identify the factors contributing to students' conceptual understanding. With the advancement of the machine learning-based research approach, there are reports that some machine learning algorithms outperform logistic regression models in terms of prediction. In this study, we collected…

Almost all educational systems still rely on traditional teaching methods: children must absorb huge uncorrelated amounts of information from various disciplines, multidisciplinary aspects are not developed, the fun factor is missing in most of the classes. Many children sometimes do not fully understand the presented theoretical concepts and…

Cultivating children's creativity and imagination is fundamental to preparing them for an increasingly complex and uncertain future. Engaging in creative learning enables children to think independently and critically, work cooperatively, and take risks while actively engaged in meaningful projects. While current trends in education, such as maker…

Coding ability has become an essential digital skill for young children. The graphical programming environment is valuable carrier for cultivating children's coding ability. The purpose of this study is to develop a coding ability test for children, to conduct a graphic coding intervention, and to further explore the impact of multiple factors on…

A key debate in computer science education is whether and how computational thinking (CT) is used within disciplines other than computer science. Broad definitions provide many avenues for developing integrated instruction, as practices within existing activities can simply be reframed in terms of CT. But such general use of the term CT may…

This study used robot-based practices to develop an activity that incorporated the 6E model. The sixth-grade students learned interdisciplinary knowledge about how to use Arduino electronic components, microcontrollers, and hands-on tools to make a "Crab Robot." In addition, the students learned how to use Scratch programming language to…

The role of programming in computing education for children has grown rapidly in recent years with the proliferation of specially designed programming tools, which is grounded on Seymour Papert's theoretical work in Constructionism. Studies show that some children can develop computational thinking skills and practices with programming activities…

The potential benefits from the introduction of programming environments such as "Scratch" for learning mathematics has reactivated research in this area. Nonetheless, there are few studies which attempt to analyse their influence at the stage of Primary Education. We present the results of a quasi-experimental piece of research with…