To Örebro University

A growing body of research concerned with computational thinking (CT) has emerged the last couple of years, but there is still a lack of consensus about the definition of CT. There are also gaps in the understanding of how young children manifest CT. With this paper, we contribute to the field by taking an action perspective with the CT of K-3 students. The analysis focus on iterative acts of abstraction and decomposition as a core process that elicits development of CT. We call these iterative acts the Abstraction/Decomposition spiral (AD spiral). By illustrating the AD spiral through the actions of two first grade students, the analysis shows how visual representation of an emerging solution, and the development of a plan are two important elements when young students solve problems in a coding context, developing their CT.

Visual programming has become a popular way to provide young students with the opportunity to engage in complex problem-solving, often referred to as computational thinking. Most frameworks for computational thinking are comprehensive yet lack a fine-grained perspective on young students' engagement in programming. Therefore, this paper aims to unpack young students’ enacted problem-solving as they engage in open-ended programming in a visual programming environment (VPE). Through the lens of abstracting and decomposing, we contribute with a close-up understanding of how young students tackle complex problems in a VPE. Data generated in a Swedish first-grade classroom consisted of screen recordings and plans from 13 student pairs, working during four lessons to produce animated stories in ScratchJr. Through the analysis, six enactment patterns were constructed, showing that students as young as seven to eight years old can solve problems involving multiple components, arranging them into cohesive solutions. There were major differences in the problem-solving process involving whether or not the students followed their plans, captured in plan-driven and in-the-moment enactment patterns. Plan-driven enactment patterns elicited shifts within abstracting and decomposing practices, which we consider essential for programming since such enactment patterns more often elicit complex problem-solving. The results suggest that young students should be encouraged to use plans extensively when working in a VPE.

There is a lack of knowledge in research about the intersection between programming and mathematics in an educational context relevant to young students. This paper aims to contribute to the research field with a theoretical framework that captures this intersection. The intersection is explored by interpreting open programming tasks in a visual programming environment through the lens of Bishop’s six mathematical activities, resulting in a framework that shows how mathematical activities intersect with either a context-independent programming process or context-dependent programming processes.