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…

Background: As one of the mainstream forms of programming education, educational robotics (ER) have been a crucial way to develop K-12 students' programming ability. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to clarify the content of programming ability, to verify the effectiveness of ER as a teaching method to improve students' programming…

Computational thinking is considered to be an important competence in the intelligent era, and the incorporation of computational thinking as an integral part of school education beginning in childhood has been proposed. However, the ways in which computational thinking can be taught more effectively the context of in K-12 programming teaching…

The introduction of programming education in K-12 schools to promote computational thinking has attracted a great deal of attention from scholars and educators. Debugging code is a central skill for students, but is also a considerable challenge when learning to program. Learners at the K-12 level often lack confidence in programming debugging due…

The COVID-19 pandemic raised the need to examine online learning methods also in young children. This study examined elementary school children's performance and attitudes during and toward an online programming learning activity utilizing the pair-programming Agile method that may foster 21st-century skills, including collaboration and…

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…

Computational thinking is an important competence for learners in the twenty-first century. As an effective approach for cultivating competence in computational thinking, programming education has been extended from college to elementary school teaching. However, it is challenging to engage beginners in programming in elementary school education.…

Educational Robotics is increasingly used in elementary-school classrooms to develop students' algorithmic thinking and programming skills. However, most research appears descriptive and lacks experimental evidence on the effects of teaching interventions using robotics to develop algorithmic thinking. Using the robots Dash and Dot, this study…

Background: A resurgence in teaching coding in primary school classrooms has led to a pedagogical swing towards using physical computing and coding to develop students' use of algorithms, computational thinking, and problem-solving skills. Two obstacles impede the optimal development of these objectives: the availability of a suitable pedagogy and…

Purpose of this study is determined effects of different teaching approaches on programming skills. Therefore, the effect of three different types of activities prepared with Scratch on 423 sixth grade students' attitudes towards computer technologies, algorithmic thinking skills and reflective thinking skills on problem solving were investigated.…

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…

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…

In recent years, increased attention has been given to programming instruction for primary and secondary students. Several game-based programming learning platforms, such as Code.org, Lightbot, and Run Marco, have been created to offer enticing, enjoyable, and visualizable programming learning conditions that facilitate student interest and…

This paper examines the effectiveness of programming in pairs in the Scratch environment in primary school. The motivation for tackling this issue is based on the successful use of Scratch as a learning environment for any students of programming. The analysis has shown that that programming in pairs produces better results for beginners in…

Computational Thinking (CT) is an emerging topic in school curricula. Different tools exist to support the learning of CT, namely visual programming languages and tangible development platforms (TDP), which are widely used in extra-curricular activities. To date, few tools have been developed that consider both teachers' needs and the school…