Computational thinking as a foundation for coding: Developing student engagement and learning

The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) states that, ‘in this digital age, young people need to be highly skilled in the use of ICT’ (p. 5) enabling them to become ‘creative and productive users of technology’ (p. 8). We argue that creating learning experiences that harness the synergies across the mathematics and digital technologies learning areas, where children experience computational thinking skills and higher order thinking through digital programming activities in the early years, provides a strong foundation for developing productive technology users and thinkers of the future. Additionally, these pedagogies enable young children to engage with their learning in meaningful and interesting ways. Computational thinking can be defined as ‘solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior, by drawing on the concepts fundamental to computer science’ (Wing, 2006, p. 33). There are strong links between computational thinking associated with coding and mathematical thinking (Wing, 2006). The digital technologies curriculum promotes children’s use of ‘computational thinking and information systems to define, design and implement digital solutions’ (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2018a, np). Similarly, a significant aspect of developing computational thinking involves young children developing their knowledge and skills in ‘conceptualising algorithms as a sequence of steps for carrying out instructions’ (np), as a foundation for the development of later coding skills. The algorithm we focus on in this article is the coding sequence. While schools and teachers are responsible for implementing the digital technologies curriculum, it is well documented in research literature (Blundell, Lee, & Nykvist, 2016; Ertmer, Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Sadik, Sendurur, & Sendurur, 2012) that teacher practice during curriculum implementation can be influenced by many factors. This article explores the intrinsic factors that are ‘internal to the teacher’, or ‘second-order barriers’, such as teachers’ beliefs about how children learn, teachers’ confidence with digital technologies, and their perceptions of the pedagogical value of digital technologies for learning (Ertmer et al., 2012, p. 423). When managing these factors, for example, teacher confidence, it is useful to embed digital technology skills into other learning areas, in this case, mathematics. Given that Digital Technologies is a newer curriculum intervention in Australian schools, this enables teachers to operate within a familiar content area (mathematics), and extend to include digital technology skills, an area they may be less confident in. This approach utilises the common elements from both learning areas and integrates them in a meaningful manner and prioritises the general capabilities of the Australian Curriculum (see ACARA, 2018a; 2018b)