Introducing computational thinking in early childhood education

In the contemporary digital era, introducing computational thinking concepts is considered essential at all stages of schooling, since it is linked to skills such as; collection, organization and analysis of data, algorithmic thinking, abstraction and evaluation, which are applicable and beneficial in everyday life.

The research we are conducting concerns the development and evaluation of computational thinking in first and second grade of primary school, in the context of the Environmental Study course. The main axes that structure our research approach are constructivism, game-centered learning, the exploitation of smart mobile devices in the educational process and the cultivation of environmental values, environmental awareness and positive attitudes and beliefs about the environment.

To achieve our research goals, we propose an innovative educational framework centered on the computational learning environment PhysGramming, which proposes a hybrid schema of visual and text-based programming techniques, paying emphasis on object-orientation.

PhysGramming was designed and implemented by Dr. Kanaki Kalliopi, postdoctoral researcher of the Department of Preschool Education of the University of Crete, while still being PhD candidate of the Department, supervised by Dr. Kalogiannakis Michail, Assistant Professor at the Department of Preschool Education at the University of Crete in Greece. Dr. Zaranis Nikolaos, Professor at the Department of Preschool Education at the University of Crete in Greece and Dr. Papadopoulou Penelope, Assistant Professor in Biological Education Department of Early Childhood Education University of Western Macedonia in Greece, constitute the supervisory committee.

Our research study was financially supported by:

• the Special Account of Research of the University of Crete, (KA 4713 - PsysGramming (Physical Science Programming): An innovative gamebased educational framework for the development of computational thinking in early childhood education within the context of physical science study
• Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) through the Operational Programme “Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014–2020” in the context of the project “Assess¬ment tool for fundamental (MIS 5048168).