DOI: 10.5176/2251-2195_CSEIT17.69
Authors: Douglas L. Moody, Anna Schwartz
Abstract: The subject of teaching computer programming has grown substantially in recent years. The advent of interactive ebooks, online sites (e.g. CodeAcademy), youth directed tools (e.g. Scratch, Tynker) and the vast library of open source code, have dramatically changed the landscape of computer programming pedagogy. These tools each purport to address different audiences as well as varying skill sets of student programmers, such as coding literacy and computational thinking, key abilities of successful programmers. However, developing computational thinking, which is similar to generic problem-solving, remains difficult and elusive in many educational programs and online pedagogical tools. We analyze, from an educational psychology perspective, how well-known educational tools develop computational thinking abilities and we provide suggestions for future tool development.
Keywords: computational thinking, coding literacy, executive function, transfer
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