Computer programming is regarded as an important skill for the future. However, many K-12 students face challenges and difficulties in learning traditional text-based programming. Block-based visual programming (BVP) can reduce the difficulty of learning programming and is seen as a potential programming education tool. Nevertheless, the effects…

Computational thinking (CT), an essential 21st century skill, incorporates key computer science concepts such as abstraction, algorithms, and debugging. Debugging is particularly underrepresented in the CT training literature. This multi-level meta-analysis focused on debugging as a core CT skill, and investigated the effects of various debugging…

As our society has advanced in the era of digital transformation, education has been transformed from knowledge-centered to competency-centered to solve future problems in the light of unpredictable changes and events in our lives. Programming education provides the basic knowledge needed, and fosters higher-order thinking skills in the process of…

The interest in computational thinking development at pre-university education stage is increasing. In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to address two main objectives: (a) to analyze the effectiveness of empirical interventions in K-12 education for the development of Computational Thinking (CT); and (b) to identify and evaluate the…

Background and Context: Subgoal labeled worked examples have been extensively researched, but the research has been reported piecemeal. This paper aggregates data from three studies, including data previously unreported, to holistically examine the effect of subgoal labeled worked examples across three student populations and across different…

Background and Context: The use of block-based programming environments is purported to be a good way to gently introduce novice computer programmers to computer programming. A small, but growing body of research examines the differences between block-based and text-based programming environments. Objective: Thus, the purpose of this study was to…

This paper presents the results of a systematic review of the literature, including a meta-analysis, about the effectiveness of the use of Alice software in programming learning when compared to the use of a conventional programming language. Our research included studies published between the years 2000 and 2014 in the main databases. We gathered…

The introduction of computer programming in K-12 has become mainstream in the last years, as countries around the world are making coding part of their curriculum. Nevertheless, there is a lack of empirical studies that investigate how learning to program at an early age affects other school subjects. In this regard, this paper compares three…