Poster #47 - Investigating a Holistic Approach for Measuring Computational Thinking in Early Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Given the growing recognition of computational thinking (CT) as a critical 21st century skill (e.g., Haseski et al., 2018), it is no surprise educational institutions have shown increased commitment to robotics and computer science education. Even very young learners (e.g., preschoolers; Silva et al., 2021) are being given opportunities to develop their CT at school. Despite increased research interest in this construct, the nature of CT and how to support its development in early childhood is not fully understood. As a result, it is unclear how to best design assessment tools and procedures for measuring young children’s CT.

Though the evaluation of preschoolers’ CT skills represents a burgeoning area of research, measurement tools for this age group are scarce and there are vast differences in assessment approaches. For example, some measures require young children to express CT through the use of robotics (e.g., KIBO robot; Elkin et al., 2016) while others are designed for “unplugged” assessment (e.g., TechCheck; Relkin et al., 2020). Furthermore, CT assessments for young children vary greatly in terms of the research context (e.g., observational, interview based), making it difficult to compare findings across studies. To better understand and support CT in the context of early childhood, it is critical to evaluate and compare the insights that can be gleaned from various assessment tools and strategies within a single study.

The current study, which represents just one dimension of a larger research-practice partnership (RPP) responsible for co-designing and implementing culturally relevant robotics (CRR) programming for preschoolers, investigates the outcomes produced by two types of CT assessment: 1) “traditional” researcher-administered assessments of individual children and 2) naturalistic teacher assessments collected during small-group CT activities. One-on-one assessments were administered by trained researchers at the beginning of the school year to measure children’s baseline CT skills and will be collected again at the end of the CRR curriculum. Small group activities designed to support specific dimensions of CT (e.g., sequencing, debugging) are conducted throughout the CRR curriculum and are used by teachers to assess current CT skills, development across time, and child engagement.These assessment approaches were developed by the RPP after piloting the CRR curriculum for one school year and consist of both “plugged” and “unplugged” activities.

We anticipate a final sample of approximately 100 three- to five-year-old children (n ~ 100) and their preschool or prekindergarten teachers (n = 8). Data analysis is ongoing, but descriptive and correlational analyses will be used to evaluate and present patterns of relationships between CT outcomes derived from both types of assessment. This work has considerable implications for practice and policy as expanded efforts to support CT in early childhood necessitates appropriate, relevant, and effective assessment strategies for researchers and teachers.

Group Authors

The CRRAFT Partnership

Authors

• James A. Larsen, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

• Margaret Ferguson Quinn, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

• Charles Edward Flowers, University of Tennessee - Knoxville
  Presenting Author