At an unrivaled and enduring pace, computing has transformed the world, resulting in demand for a universal fourth foundation beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic: computational thinking (CT). Despite increasingly widespread acceptance of CT as a crucial competency for all, transforming education systems accordingly has proven complex. The…

Learning basic concepts of programming resulting in a development on computational thinking (CT) can be reached by means of digital programming environments. As a counterpart, the application of unplugged programming activities seems also to have promising potential regarding the impact on CT. The main characteristic of unplugged programming is…

Computer programming has become an essential part of K12 education, promoted as a way for students to engage in computational thinking that helps develop students' ability to analyze and solve problems and prepare them for future careers. Tabletop board games are seen as an effective means to help students learn computer programming. Several board…

Computer programming is essential nowadays but still challenging to learn due to its invisible thinking. Current programming environments are mostly designed for operating on computers directly to learn concrete programming, but this approach lacks the support for clarifying learners' thinking processes. On the other hand, using paper and pens…

Coding games are widely used to teach computational thinking (CT). Studies have broadly investigated the role of coding games in supporting CT learning in formal classroom contexts, but there has been limited exploration of their use in informal home-based settings. This study investigated the factors that motivated students to use a coding game…

Computational thinking (CT) has started to attract attention as an important research topic in recent years. It is important to describe the CT field in detail and to determine the research interests and trends of studies in this field. In this most comprehensive and first topic modeling based study in the field of CT, it was aimed to determine…

As elementary students begin to program using tangible blocks, they must coordinate their use of counting with the movements, directions, and numbers they use to move a character. In our study, we analyzed 13 first graders' first attempts at coordinating these elements when playing a programming game on the iPad that used tangible programming…

There is substantial evidence that incorporating interactive environments for game-based instruction has a significant potential to support the development of computational thinking and programming skills in primary education students. However, it is not clear whether a simulation game (SG) with different user interface elements, created via…

Background and Context: Though still a nascent area of research, serious games have been presented as means of engaging students in computer programming and computational thinking due to their immersive and interactive nature. Existing research is limited in its ability to provide systems based on sound instructional design models, and only a few…

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of block-based coding education on middle school students' computational thinking skills and attitudes towards coding with Blocky example. The training phase of the implementation process was planned and implemented by subject experts in 4 weeks and 2 hours a week. In the research, both quantitative…

In order to reflect on the lack of developing content knowledge of technology education in Taiwan's primary teacher education, the main aim of this study was to develop a STEM-based game-design project for helping preservice primary teachers acquire computational thinking concepts in a teacher education course and to evaluate its effectiveness.…

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…

The aim of study to investigate the effects of block-based game development activities carried out on the goal-based scenario approach on the geometry achievement and computational thinking skills of seventh-grade students and to reveal their opinions regarding the process. The study used a one-group pretest-posttest experimental model an…

Background: Owing to the exponential growth of three-dimensional (3D) environments amongst researchers and educators to create simulation games (SGs) in primary education, there is a growing interest to examine their potential support in computer science courses instead of visual programming environments. Objectives: This study explores the…

The cultivation of computational thinking and programing education have gained prominence in K-12 education worldwide. Primary school teachers should be proficient in visual programing and using microcontrollers to teach programing courses. To cope with these trends, a learning activity was developed and implemented in Taiwan's primary teacher…