Don't Assume Deficit: Disability, Coding, and Computational Thinking in Early Elementary School

• In Event: Early Childhood and Elementary Learner Computing Education

Abstract

Although researchers have developed accessible and adaptive computer science and computational thinking programs for students with disabilities, less is known about what children with disabilities know about and how they perform on assessments of coding languages and computational thinking. This paper looked at pre-curriculum scores for children with and without disabilities on assessments of computational thinking and coding knowledge. The results show a significant but small difference in computational thinking scores but show no significant difference in coding knowledge scores. This suggests that computational thinking and coding knowledge are different domains, and that researchers and teachers should not assume deficits in one based on performance in the other skill or based on an outside factor such as disability status.

Authors

• Tess Levinson, Boston College
  Presenting Author

• Marina U. Bers, Boston College
  Non-Presenting Author