Computational thinking (CT), an essential competency for comprehending and addressing intricate issues in the digital world, has been incorporated into curriculum planning as a goal for programming education. This study introduced flow design into programming curricula to investigate its impact on undergraduates 'CT skills during pair work. Two…

Background: Studies on the effectiveness of block-based environments continue to produce inconsistent results. A strong reason for this is that most studies compare environments that are not equivalent to each other or to the level of learners. Moreover, studies that present evidence of the effectiveness of block-based environments by comparing…

Computational thinking is a way of thinking that helps people "think like a computer scientist" to solve practical problems. However, practicing computational thinking through programming is dependent on the problem solvers' metacognition. This study investigated students' metacognitive planning and problem-solving performance in…

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…

This qualitative case study was designed to explore pre-service teachers' computational thinking and programming skills in an educational technology course in which block-based programming was introduced in a teacher education program. 12 teacher candidates from different subject areas participated in the study. The findings show that…

This paper proposes a framework for integrating generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools into statistical training for Doctor of Education (EdD) students. The rigorous demands of doctoral education, coupled with the challenges of learning complex statistical software and coding language, often lead to anxiety and frustration among students,…

In this article, we seek to understand how university students learn to use programming as an instrument for 'authentic' mathematical investigations. We use the instrumental approach as a framework, focusing on how the transformation of the programming language into an instrument requires that the user develops or mobilizes multiple schemes at…

Object-oriented programming distinguishes between instance attributes and methods and class attributes and methods, annotated by the "static" modifier. Novices encounter difficulty understanding the means and implications of "static" attributes and methods. The paper has two outcomes: (a) a detailed classification of aspects of…

Software modeling is an integral practice for software engineers, especially as the complexity of software solutions increases. Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the industry standard for software modeling. however, it is often used incorrectly and misunderstood by novice software designers. This study is centered around understanding patterns of…

Software modeling is an integral practice for software engineers especially as the complexity of software solutions increase. There is precedent in industry to model information systems in terms of functions, structures, and behaviors. While constructing these models, abstraction and systems thinking are employed to determine elements essential to…

Computational thinking in physics has many different forms, definitions, and implementations depending on the level of physics or the institution it is presented in. To better integrate computational thinking in introductory physics, we need to understand what physicists find important about computational thinking in introductory physics. We…

In this study, the effects of Arduino IDE and C++ programming languages were investigated on the computational thinking skills of preservice teachers. The Computational Thinking Skills Scale was administered to preservice teachers. Firstly, a basic programming training was given and then it was asked to create group projects on a voluntary basis.…

When solving counting problems, students often struggle with determining what they are trying to count (and thus what problem type they are trying to solve and, ultimately, what formula appropriately applies). There is a need to explore potential interventions to deepen students' understanding of key distinctions between problem types and to…

The objective of this research is to study the "Scratch" programming language as a didactic tool to teach functions. The introduction of didactic tools allowing comprehension in simple and attractive ways is required. Given the traditional teaching/learning system, it is necessary to organize participatory and collaborative dynamic…

In the school year 2020-2021, the COVID-19 pandemic imposed distance learning (in Italian, the DAD acronym is used). Therefore, the Degree Course in Primary Education Sciences of the University of Perugia has proposed an innovative programme for the training of future teachers by developing a distance learning laboratory focusing coding and…