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ERIC Number: EJ1330216
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Mar
Pages: 38
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0735-6331
EISSN: N/A
A Cross-Sectional Study Investigating Primary School Children's Coding Practices and Computational Thinking Using ScratchJr
Kyza, Eleni A.; Georgiou, Yiannis; Agesilaou, Andria; Souropetsis, Markos
Journal of Educational Computing Research, v60 n1 p220-257 Mar 2022
There are increasing calls to introduce computational thinking in schools; the arguments in favor call upon research suggesting that even kindergarten children can successfully engage in coding. This contribution presents a cross-sectional study examining the coding practices and computational thinking of fifty-one primary school children using the ScratchJr software; children were organized in two cohorts (Cohort 1: 6-9 years old; Cohort 2: 10-12 years old). Each cohort participated in a six-hour intervention, as part of a four-day summer club. During the intervention children were introduced to ScratchJr and were asked to collaboratively design a digital story about environmental waste management actions, thus adopting a disciplinary perspective to computational thinking. Data analyses examined children's final artifacts, in terms of coding practices and the level of computational thinking demonstrated by each cohort. Furthermore, analysis of selected groups' storyboard interviews was used to shed light on differences between the two cohorts. Results are presented and contrasted across the two age cohorts via a developmental perspective. The findings of this study can be useful in considering the instructional support that is necessary to scaffold the development of primary school children's coding practices and computational thinking.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2814
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Cyprus
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A