Computational Thinking (CT) has evolved as an essential competency for K-12 students, and programming practices are recognized as the key way to facilitate CT development. However, most studies of CT development in middle graders have focused on visual programming, lacking evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of Python programming. Therefore,…

Educational technologists and practitioners have made substantial strides in developing affordable digital and tangible resources to support both formal and informal computer science instruction. However, there is a lack of research on practice-based assignments, such as Internet of Things (IoT) projects, that allow undergraduate students to…

The study examined the effect of teaching text-based programming with a physical programming tool on secondary school students' computational thinking skills and self-efficacy perceptions. The study was conducted according to a sequential explanatory design as a mixed method research. The study group consisted of 85 secondary school students.…

Block-based visual programming tools are widely used in elementary education. Nonetheless, these tools alone may not ensure the spontaneous and efficient acquisition of concepts and skills in computational thinking (CT). Using mind mapping as a form of scaffolding to facilitate the visualization of abstract thinking processes may enhance the…

This study investigated young children's computational thinking (CT) development by integrating ScratchJr into a programming curriculum. Twelve third graders (six males and six females) voluntarily participated in an experiment-based computer class conducted at a public elementary school in Taiwan. This study adopted a case study methodology to…

This study critically reviews sixteen empirical studies that investigate the various difficulties that primary school students encounter while learning programming through educational games. Specifically, the challenges that students face in understanding basic programming concepts and the game elements that contribute to these difficulties, as…

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…

Computational thinking (CT) education has drawn increasing attention from educators and researchers. This study conducted a meta-analysis of 27 empirical studies to examine the effectiveness of game-based learning (GBL) for fostering students' CT. The effects of various factors on the learning process for acquiring CT were also examined. The…

Scratch, a kind of visual programming software, has been widely used in instruction for primary school children. Scratch constructs a digital world for children to design, develop, and create coursework in which their creative thinking is fostered. Different instructional methods have been designed and implemented to stimulate children's creative…

Computational thinking has received tremendous attention from computer science educators and educational researchers in the last decade. However, most prior literature defines computational thinking as thinking outcomes rather than thinking processes. Based on Selby and Woodland's framework, this study developed and validated the Computational…

In this research, a scale was developed to determine the programming-oriented computational thinking skills of university students. The participants were 360 students studying in various departments at different universities in Turkey for computer programming. The scale consists of 33 items under conceptual knowledge, algorithmic thinking, and…

In recent years, the government has actively set up computer programming courses to train those with the relevant talent; however, the learning performance of the students is not ideal. Therefore, in order to learn programming skills, students usually adopt note-taking strategies because, due to the pressure of the course, the teachers do not have…

Pair Programming has been shown to increase productivity and code quality not only in professional software development but also in the context of programming education. The provision of broadband Internet access gave rise to Distributed Pair Programming (DPP) enabling two programmers to collaborate remotely. To gain insight into the benefits of…

Studies have indicated the importance of scaffolding in the problem-solving process, as well as the potential of integrating learning content into the troubleshooting tasks. However, few have explored in depth the learning process during troubleshooting via scaffolds while also taking students' cognitive load into account. To address this issue,…

This study explored (1) pedagogical strategies in Educational Coding and Robotics (ECR) learning which can develop computational thinking of students and (2) the degree of teacher centrality in the ECR classroom. In addition, we investigated (3) the added value of the Small Private Online Course (SPOC) to teacher professional development (TPD). We…