Background: In the digital age, fostering young children's computational thinking (CT) and executive functions (EFs) through programming has emerged as a significant research issue. While unplugged programming activities are commonly adopted in preschools, robot programming activities have recently gained attention for the potential to enhance…

Background/purpose: Computational Thinking is a fundamental problem-solving skill. As its importance has been recognized by the scientific community, it has been incorporated into the curricula of several countries to foster its development from the earliest years of schooling. Therefore, it is essential to design training programs that equip…

The present study illustrates digital storytelling (DS) as an open-ended learning environment, which is one of the ways of preparing pre-service teachers (PST) to practice computational thinking (CT) in their future teaching. An 8-week teacher training program was organized and presented. The study aims to investigate the program's impact on the…

In recent years, computational thinking has garnered increased attention as an essential problem-solving skill. One of the methods to develop students' computational thinking skills is robotic coding activities. This study sought to investigate the impact of robotic coding activities on the self-efficacy perceptions of secondary school students'…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation and impact of the Pack program. The Pack was developed by the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) and includes a digital game and set of curricular and professional development resources that aim to support computational thinking teaching and learning in middle school science and computer…

Prompting people to estimate climate change numbers before showing them the true value can shift learners' attitudes and conceptions. Yet, interventions created for such a learning experience are not easily accessible to the general public. The purpose of this preregistered study was to address this research gap by developing and testing an openly…

Artificial intelligence (AI) and computational sciences have aroused a growing interest in education. Despite its relatively recent history, AI is increasingly being introduced into the classroom through different modalities, with the aim of improving student achievement. Thus, the purpose of the research is to analyse, quantitatively and…

While increasing emphasis has been placed on computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) little is known about these topics in elementary classrooms. Significant equity gaps exist within CS/CT at the elementary level, with a major contributor being the lack of highly qualified CS/CT elementary teachers. Professional development (PD) for…

This paper presents a game-design workshop built around a digital art installation featuring video games displayed over a real-world skyscraper to stimulate students' interest in computer science and a study testing its short-term effects on improving middle school students' computational thinking (CT) skills and attitudes towards computing.…

This study explores the potential of modern board games to foster key competences in primary education. A total of 238 students and 17 teachers from Spain, Romania, and Greece implemented 29 board games targeting Linguistic Communication, Mathematical Competence, and Learning to Learn. The intervention included teacher training, pedagogical…

Computational thinking (CT) has attracted significant interest among many educators around the globe. Despite this growing interest, research on CT and programming education in elementary school remains at an initial stage. Many relevant studies have adopted only one type of method to assess students' CT, which may lead to an incomplete view of…

We explored how preservice teachers in a middle school science methods course learned and applied computational thinking (CT) concepts and activities during a month-long intervention. In the intervention, preservice teachers learned about CT concepts through an hour-long lecture in their methods class, practiced a computing-integration activity…

This design case documents the creation of open educational resources for preservice and inservice teachers at Brigham Young University (BYU). The purpose of this interdisciplinary project was to design and develop training, assessments and credentials to help the learners become competent in teaching computational thinking (CT) and coding in…

National testing and reform agendas, with their focus on school improvement, has led to increased collection and scrutiny of student data. The analysis of these data usually occurs at a school level, often by school leaders. What is less common is the opportunity for students to scrutinise their individual data and take ownership over the results…

The Game Play and Design Framework is a project-based instructional method to engage teachers and students with mathematics content by utilizing technology as a vehicle for game play and creation. In the authors' prior work, they created a technology tool and game editing platform, the Wearable Learning Cloud Platform (WLCP), which enables…