Enhancing elementary school students' computational thinking and programming learning with graphic organizers

This study aims to examine the effects of a Novel Engineering (NE)-based AI education program on elementary school students’ computational thinking and learning engagement. A 12-session instructional program was developed and implemented in a fourth-grade classroom at an elementary school. A mixed-methods research design was employed, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data. Pre- and post-tests were administered to assess changes in students' computational thinking and learning engagement. In addition, qualitative data was collected through instructional materials and in-depth interviews. Interview participants were selected based on high, medium, and low levels of performance in computational thinking and learning engagement. The interviews focused on how students demonstrated competencies in analysis/design and implementation/inference throughout the learning process. The results indicated that the NE-based AI education program had a statistically significant positive impact on both computational thinking and learning engagement with the students. The students actively engaged in problem-solving activities and found the tasks stimulating, which contributed to the enhancement of their computational thinking skills. Furthermore, the appropriate level of task difficulty, opportunities for autonomous participation, and active communication were identified as factors that fostered greater learning engagement. This study demonstrates the potential for developing and applying effective AI education programs to enhance elementary students’ computational thinking and learning engagement, offering valuable implications for future educational practices.

This study integrated the augmented reality (AR) technology into the “Coding Ocean” board game to provide players with real-time simulation of ship paths and learning scaffolds. Combined with Scratch block-based programming, an interactive learning environment is developed to assist elementary school students in learning coding skills from the unplugged board game to enhance their computational thinking concepts. The AR board game is focused on the programming concepts of sequential, and/or and loop. Through the process of treasure hunting, the basic concepts of computational thinking can be developed, i.e., abstraction, problem decomposition, pattern recognition and algorithmic thinking. In order to investigate the learning effectiveness of the AR board game on computational thinking and programming skills, a number of 51 third graders from an elementary school were recruited as research samples. The experimental group (n = 26) used the AR board game and the control group (n = 25) used the traditional board game for game-based learning. The experimental results indicate: (1) the learning effectiveness of computational thinking for the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group; (2) the learning achievement of the block-based programming skills for the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group; (3) the cognitive load of the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the control group. The AR technology can combine the unplugged board games with plugged learning modules to assist students in game-based learning, which is useful for enhancing computational thinking abilities while reducing the cognitive load.

(1) Background: The study aims to analyze the degree of media use among early childhood teachers and the correlations between their computational thinking, playfulness, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. It confirms a strong correlation between playfulness and problem-solving abilities and investigates whether higher levels of computational thinking are associated with higher levels of playfulness. This research is positioned within the context of sustainable development in early childhood education, emphasizing the importance of integrating digital literacy and computational thinking skills to promote sustainability. (2) Methods: The research was conducted on teachers working in daycare centers and kindergartens in Jeju Island, South Korea. A total of 203 questionnaires were collected, employing descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis. (3) Results: The study found that teachers’ degree of media literacy affects their media use. Additionally, the higher the degree of computational thinking, the more significant the effect on early childhood teachers’ playfulness. Furthermore, early childhood teachers’ playfulness, creativity, and problem-solving skills were all significantly correlated overall. (4) Conclusions: The findings suggest that if teachers take an interest in IT media and find ways to use it positively, it will have a positive effect on early childhood education. Moreover, increasing computational thinking skills will enable the effective use of various tools, positively impacting teachers’ roles. The study proposes that enhancing early childhood teachers’ playfulness, creativity, and problem-solving skills will contribute to sustainable development in early childhood education.

New generations are using and playing with mobile and computer applications extensively. These applications arethe outcomes of programming work that involves skills, such as computational and algorithmic thinking. Learningprogramming is not easy for students children. In recent years, academic institutions like theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and hi-tech companies, such as Google and Khan Academy, haveintroduced online environments to facilitate the teaching and learning of programming. Most of these programmingenvironments are web-based, and interactive and are supported with visual multimedia features. Therefore, they havebecome easy to use, very attractive and helpful for teaching children how to program and to develop theiralgorithmic and computational thinking skills. The proposed presentation will describe research that examined theteaching of a course to primary school children based on three on-line interactive environments: "Plastelina" for logicgames, "Code with Anna and Elsa" via the Hour of Code project block-oriented programming environment, forblock programming and "Turtle Academy" for textual programming in the Logo language. The current researchincluded the development, implementation and evaluation of the course at an elementary school. In addition, it wasaimed at investigating the pupils' attitudes toward the learning of computer programming, both before and afterparticipation in the course. The results revealed that the pupils' attitudes towards programming remained positivealso also after the participation in the course. It was also found that programming improved children's problemsolving skills.

Computational thinking is a way of analytic thinking, a general mathematical thinking approach that may be used in solving a problem, a general engineering thinking approach that allows designing and evaluating large and complex systems that exist in the real world, as well as a general scientific thinking approach in understanding computing ability, intelligence, human mind and behavior. With the existence of online games at a time like today, there is a tendency for many students to play online games because it has its own challenges, many of them even spend a lot of money and even forget the time to play online games. there is an urgency to the level of computational thinking of dota two players, so it is necessary to estimate using machine learning techniques to determine the level of computational thinking of dota two game players. The results of this study provide information that in Estimating the Computational Thinking Ability of Dota Dua Game Players Using Machine Learning Techniques using attribute 6 and rapidminer tools version 10 with operators to be used, including retrieval dataset, role set, correlation matrix, selected by weighted, split data, linear regression, apply model and performance. Produces an error accuracy rate in this study, namely, root mean squered error 0.383 +/- 0.000 Squared error 0.146 +/- 0.016 Squared Correlation 1.000, then this value is the best value from several test results. So it can be estimated as follows that the results of the Computational Thinking Ability are good as much as 36 while the Computational Thinking Ability is sufficient as much as 47

In the contemporary era, Computational Thinking has emerged as a crucial skill for individuals to possess in order to thrive in the 21st century. In this context, there is a need to develop a methodology for cultivating these skills within a science and mathematics content education framework, particularly among pre-service teachers. This study aimed to investigate the impact of Educational Robotics on the development of Computational Thinking skills, with a particular focus on the role of gender, through a scientific and mathematical content teaching approach. A pre-experimental design with a quantitative approach was employed, and it was implemented with a total of 116 pre-service teachers, 38 males and 78 females. The results demonstrated a notable enhancement between the pre-test (8.11) and post-test (9.63) scores, emphasising specific concepts such as simple functions, while, and compound conditional. With respect to gender, statistically significant differences were identified prior to the intervention, but not following its implementation. The high level of Computational Thinking exhibited by both genders was comparable (53.85% in females and 55.26% in males) following the intervention. This indicates that the intervention is a promising approach for enhancing Computational Thinking proficiency, independent of gender and initial proficiency levels. The implementation of Educational Robotics in the teaching of science and mathematics enables the enhancement of Computational Thinking abilities among pre-service teachers, while reducing the observed gender disparity in this area of skill development.

Objective: The benefits of computational thinking have become an increasingly acknowledged and popular subject of investigation among researchers. This research aims to gather detail and comprehensive information regarding the learning of computational thinking skills in mathematics at various educational levels through a systematic literature review approach. Methods: With a focus on education level, instructional media, mathematics content, and the components of computational thinking addressed by previous researchers, this paper applied the PRISMA Systematic Review Protocol to offer a comprehensive synthesis of sixteen empirical studies retrieved from the Scopus database on the implementation of computational thinking in mathematics education. Findings: Most research on fostering computational thinking in mathematics education is concentrated at the elementary and junior high school. To optimize the development of computational thinking in mathematics, teachers should be reminded of strategies to support students, particularly through activities involving simulations using various instructional media. Examples of such media include programming platforms, visualization tools, and interactive simulations and games. Number operations and geometry are the mathematical content most widely used for fostering computational thinking. Algorithmic thinking, a crucial component in fostering computational thinking among elementary school students, helps them develop a strong foundation for understanding higher mathematical concepts. Conclusion: A systematic review of computational thinking in learning mathematics at the various education level is conducted in this study. The chosen studies were systematically analyzed for the advancement of computational thinking in learning mathematics to provide new an insight information for educators and stakeholders. Keywords: computational thinking, mathematics, systematic literature review. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23960/jpmipa/v25i1.pp34-52

Scholars believe that computational thinking is one of the essential competencies of the 21st century and computer programming courses have been recognized as a potential means of fostering students’ computational thinking. In tradition instruction, PFCT (problem identification, flow definition, coding, and testing) is a commonly adopted procedure to guide students to learn and practice computer programming. However, without further guidance, students might focus on learning the syntax of computer programming language rather than the concept of solving problems. This study proposes a peer-assessment-supported PFCT (PA-PFCT) approach for boosting students’ computer programming knowledge and computational thinking awareness. A quasi-experiment was conducted on a computer programming course in a high school to evaluate its influence on students’ learning achievement, computational thinking awareness, learning motivation, and self-efficacy. An experimental group of 51 students learned with the proposed approach, while a control group of 49 students learned with the traditional PFCT (T-PFCT) approach. The experimental results show that the proposed approach significantly enhanced the students’ computational thinking awareness, learning motivation, and self-efficacy, while not having significant impacts on their computer programming knowledge test scores.

Problem-based learning integrated with Digital Argumentation (PBL-DA) is a learning strategy for optimizing innovative learning in the digital era. This research aimed to investigate whether the application of PBL-DA can foster the Computational Thinking (CT) and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTs). A quasi-experimental design measured three aspects: skill (decomposition, algorithm design, evaluation), attitude (confidence, communication, flexibility), and approach (tinkering, creating, collaborating). The students' HOTs were measured through eight aspects: critical thinking, argumentation, problem-solving, problem-identifying, understanding concepts, analysing, making decisions, and creative thinking. The students' CT and HOTs scores of control and experimental classes were analyzed using Hotelling’s T² test and Tukey’s post hoc test. The Hotelling’s T² test revealed a significant difference between the experimental and control classes for both CT and HOTs (T² = 0.340, p < 0.001 for CT; T² = 0.718, p < 0.001 for HOTs). Tukey’s test further showed that PBL-DA significantly impacted the CT skill and attitude aspects (p < 0.01), while the approach aspect was not significant (p > 0.05). For HOTs, critical thinking, argumentation, problem-identifying and analyzing were significantly improved (p < 0.01), but problem-solving, understanding concepts, making decisions, and creative thinking showed no significant improvement (p > 0.05). Pearson’s correlation analysis indicated a strong positive correlation (r = 0.651, p < 0.001) between students' CT and HOTs skills. These findings provide evidence of the effectiveness of the PBL-DA model in improving students' CT and HOTs, demonstrating its potential for fostering critical and higher-order thinking skills in the digital era.

본 연구에서는 코딩교육 프로그램을 적용하여 초등학교 6학년 학생의 컴퓨팅 사고력에 미치는 영향을 알아보고자 하였다. 본 연구의 대상은 경기도 광주시 K초등학교 6학년 2개 학급 57명이다. 6학년 6개 학급 중 2개 학급을 선정하여 실험집단 1개 학급과 통제집단 1개 학급을 선정하였다. 통제집단에는 일반 교과 수업을 하였고, 실험집단에는 코딩교육 프로그램을 실과 시간과 창의적 체험활동 시간을 활용하여 총 17차시 적용하였으며, 두 집단의 컴퓨팅 사고력 을 측정하기 위하여 검사지를 통하여 그 결과를 알아보았다. 이러한 연구의 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 통제집단의 컴퓨팅 사고력에 대한 사전검사와 사후검사 결과는 유의미한 차이를 나타 내지 못하였다. 일반 교과 수업 방법이 초등학생의 컴퓨팅 사고력 향상에는 도움이 되지 못하였음을 알 수 있다. 둘째, 실험집단의 컴퓨팅 사고력에 대한 사전검사와 사후검사 결과는 유의미한 차이를 나타냈다. 코딩 교육 프로그램이 초등학생의 컴퓨팅 사고력 향상에 효과적이었음을 알 수 있다. 셋째, 코딩교육 프로그램을 적용한 결과 초등학생의 알고리즘과 절차 사고 능력에 긍정적인 효과를 미쳤음을 알 수 있다. 넷째, 일반 교과 수업과 코딩교육 프로그램 적용 수업이 초등학생의 컴퓨팅 사고력 향상에 미치는 영향을 구명하기 위한 두 집단의 사후검사 결과는 유의미한 차이를 나타내지 않았다. 하지만 알고리즘과 절차 사고능력 향상에는 유의미한 차이를 나타냈다. 따라서 코딩교육 프로그램 적용 수업이 일반 교과 수업보다 초등학생의 알고리즘과 절차 사고 능력 향상에는 효과적임을 밝힐 수 있다. 이를 종합해 볼 때 코딩교육 프로그램은 컴퓨팅 사고력 중 자료 분석 능력과 추상화 사고 능력보다는 알고리즘과 절차 사고 능력에 긍정적인 영향을 주는 것으로 파악되었다.In this study, we constructed a coding education program and expected that the lesson program would have a positive impact on elementary school students thinking ability. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the coding education program on the computing thinking ability of the elementary school sixth graders. First, we constructed a coding education program that could be applied to elementary school sixth graders. Second, we tested the effects of coding education program on elementary school students’ The subjects of this study were 57 students from 2 classes in K-6 elementary school in Gwangju city, Gyeonggi-do. Participants were assigned in either experimental or control class. A total of 17 lessons were applied to the experimental group and the experimental group by using the actual teaching time and the creative experiential activity time, and the results were examined through the questionnaire to measure the computing competency of the two groups. The results of this study are summarized as follows. First, there was no significant difference between the pre-test and the post-test on the computing competency of the control group. It can be seen that the general classroom teaching method did not help elementary school students thinking of computing. Second, there was a significant difference between the pre-test and the post–test in the control group. It can be seen that the coding education program was effective in improving elementary school students thinking skills. Third, applying the coding education program has positive effects on elementary school students algorithm and procedural thinking ability. Fourth, the results from the post-test of the two groups did not show a significant difference in order to investigate the effect of the general class instruction and the coding education program application on the improvement of elementary school students thinking ability. However, there was a significant difference in improvement of algorithm and procedural thinking ability. Therefore, it can be concluded that the coding education program is effective for improving elementary school students algorithm and procedural thinking ability rather than general class teaching. The results of this study show that the application of the coding education program has a positive effect on the improvement of the algorithm and procedural thinking ability among 6th grade elementary school students computing thinking factors. Therefore, in order to improve the thinking skills of elementary school students, besides the coding education, it is necessary to develop a program to improve the thinking ability such as abstraction and data analysis, and conducting further study on in-depth study should be conducted.

Interactive multimedia is one of the most popular types of learning media and provides a significant increase in the success of the learning process. The achievement of mathematics learning objectives can be seen based on the level of students' computational thinking abilities and learning motivation. Therefore, this research was conducted to develop interactive multimedia that can improve students' computational thinking skills and learning motivation. This development research uses the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) model. The sample for this research was class IX students at Tunas Karya Batangkuis Middle School. The research results show that the interactive multimedia developed meets the criteria of being valid, practical and effective in improving students' computational thinking skills and learning motivation. Interactive multimedia obtained a validity value of 3.6 with very good criteria. Interactive multimedia obtained a practicality score of 3.4 (very good category) from the response questionnaire and 3.2 (good category) from the learning implementation questionnaire. The effectiveness of interactive multimedia can also be seen from several aspects, including students' classical completion level which reached 92%, achievement of learning objectives by 80%, very positive student responses, and good levels of student activity. Apart from that, the use of interactive multimedia also succeeded in increasing computational thinking abilities by 0.54 (medium category) and student learning motivation by 0.65 (medium category).

The research is relevant as educational computer games are included in students’ mathematical activity and form additional opportunities to improve the quality of teaching mathematics in a digital school, to support the formation of the demanded professional competence - computational thinking. To form the appropriate skills that determine the essence of special computational thinking, the authors propose to include game educational spaces based on digital gamification resources into students’ mathematical activities. The research aims to resolve the contradiction between requirements of the modern economy for specialists’ high level of computational thinking and an insufficiently developed methodological base for training graduates that meets these requirements. The purpose of this research is to study the features of using gamification technologies in teaching mathematics to form the skills and abilities that make up the essence of computational thinking. The article describes directions of educational and cognitive mathematical activity based on the principles of gamification. The authors clarify the concept of “computational thinking”, which includes a system of actions for activating patterns, connections between them from human memory, and compile an effective algorithm for solving them: to obtain relevant information on advanced technological developments; to state the problem and model; to use a software product with mathematical content.

Two studies were conducted to examine the use of grounded embodied pedagogy, construction of Imaginary Worlds (Study 1), and context of instructional materials (Study 2) for developing learners' Computational Thinking (CT) Skills and Concept knowledge during the construction of digital artifacts using Scratch, a block-based programming language. Utilizing a conceptual framework for grounded embodied pedagogy called Instructional Embodiment, learners physically enacted (Direct Embodiment) and mentally simulated (Imagined Embodiment) the actions and events as presented within pre-defined Scripts. Instructional Embodiment utilizes action, perception, and environment to create a dynamic, interactive teaching & learning scenario that builds upon previous research in embodied teaching and learning. The two studies described herein examined the effects of Instructional Embodiment, Imaginary World Construction, and Context on the development of specific Computational Thinking Concepts and Skills. In particular, certain CT Concepts, such as Conditionals, Variables, Thread Synchronization, Collision Detection, & Events, and CT Skills, such as abstraction and pattern recognition, were identified and measured within the learners' individual digital artifacts. Presence and/or frequency of these Concepts and Skills were used to determine the extent of Computational Thinking development. In Study 1, fifty-six sixth- and seventh-grade students participated in a fifteen-session curricular program during the academic school day. This study examined the type of instruction and continuity of Imaginary World Construction on the development of certain CT Skills and Concepts used in a visual novel created in Scratch. Main effects were found for learners who physically embodied the pre-defined instructional materials: embodying the pre-defined Scripts led to the learners using significantly more ‘speech’ Blocks in their projects and more Absolute Positioning Blocks for ‘motion’ than those who did not physically embody the same Scripts. Significant main effects were also found for continuity of Imaginary World Construction: learners who were instructed to continue the premise of the first digital artifact (Instructional Artifact) implemented significantly more computational structures in their second digital artifact (Unique Artifact) than those who were instructed to create a Unique Artifact with a premise of their own design. In Study 2, seventy-eight sixth- and seventh-grade students participated in a seventeen-session curricular program during the academic school day. This study examined the type of instruction and context of instructional materials on the development of CT Skills and Concepts during the construction of a video game using Scratch. Similar to Study 1, findings suggest that physically embodying the actions presented within the pre-defined instructional materials leads to greater implementation of many of these same structures during individual artifact construction. The study also showed that as the pre-defined Scripts become more complex (e.g. single-threaded to multi-threaded), the effect of physical embodiment on the development of CT Skills and complex CT Concept structures becomes less pronounced. Findings from this study also suggest that Context has a significant effect on identifying & implementing the CT Skill pattern recognition: learning CT Concepts from an Unfamiliar Context had a significant positive effect on the implementation of both Broadcast/Receive couplings and Conditional Logic & Operator patterns. In sum, the findings suggest that the type of instruction, the continuity of the Imaginary World being constructed, and the context of the instructional materials all play a significant role in the learners' ability to develop certain Computational Thinking Skills and Concept knowledge. The findings also suggest that a physically embodied approach to teaching abstract concepts that is grounded in an unfamiliar context is the most effective way to integrate a grounded embodied approach to pedagogy within a formal instructional setting.

Computational thinking is an important and necessary part of a modern person’s thinking. It has been proven that the development of this way of thinking in students with mental disabilities allows them to navigate quickly in the modern world, identify problems and create complex solutions. Online schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the possibilities of the usage of web technologies in the education of children with mental disabilities. This study aims to evaluate the impact of web technologies on the development of computational thinking of students with mental disorders. The experiment involved 14 students aged 8-12 and 4 tutors. For 8 weeks children were trained in computational thinking and computer science. Assessment of computational thinking was performed with cCT-test by El-Hamamsi et al. before and after the experiment. After conducting computer science lessons using web technologies the respondents showed a higher level of computational thinking (M=15,7, SD=3,69), compared to the results of preliminary testing (M=5,93, SD=2,3). Web technologies can significantly increase the effectiveness of inclusive pedagogy, which establishes the importance of integrating web technologies into the teaching system in inclusive classes of general education schools.

Formative evaluation of immersive virtual reality expedition mini-games to facilitate computational thinking