Our recent case study shows how students’ interest toward coding, co-operativity and collaborative problem-solving were effectively promoted during a 16-week coding course.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this case study was to
- To test how effective Code School Finland pedagogy is for developing students’ coding attitudes and computational thinking.
- To test the effectiveness of the pedagogical approach specifically for students with no or little previous coding experience.
Contents & Methodology
THE AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM 16 lessons in 16 weeks 34 students Mixed age groups: 10-15 year olds The after-school programs consisted of coding clubs that introduced students to block-based programming in the Scratch environment. The clubs focussed on creative game design.
The clubs followed the three pedagogical principles of Code School Finland: Problem-based learning, phenomenon-based learning, and peer learning. Critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving were promoted throughout the after-school program.
Results
- All students’ coding attitudes and computational thinking were effectively enhanced
- The program was especially effective for students with no or little earlier coding experience
- Student’s evaluation of the coding course was 4.9 on a scale of 1-5.
Recommendations for educators
While students learn how to code, it is extremely important to support their coding attitudes. When students feel competent about their coding skills, they are interested in coding, and they understand the utility of coding skills, they engage with the learning process and use their coding literacy skills in the future as well.
High quality pedagogy is needed to effectively develop students’ computational thinking. This means that students do not simply learn to repeat and memorise, but that they solve problems critically and creatively together with their peers.
Effective coding pedagogy needs to inclusively consider many types of learners with different skill sets and backgrounds. This study has shown that Code School Finland pedagogy is very effective for supporting all learners’ coding attitudes and computational thinking, but it was extremely effective for students with no or little previous coding experience.
Access to full study: please request via email to [email protected].
