Ict teachers’ visual programming teaching experiences

Abstract

Since computational thinking is being discussed as a necessary skill for 21st century, many countries decided to integrate visual programming into the elementary school curricula. This study aims to investigate “teaching to code at elementary school level” through the opinions of teachers who have chosen to teach coding as a part of ICT and Software course. The research used a mixed methodology approach, and data were collected through interviews with ICT teachers and followed by a survey. Findings revealed that teachers use various strategies for introducing the coding concept, teach the lesson through examples from daily life, game development, and group studies. Based on interview data, the individual differences of students in terms of overall academic achievement status and interest in coding seemed to be important for coding lessons. Furthermore, findings indicate that learning to code may contribute to students’ development on problem solving, logical thinking, and algorithm design skills, creativity and productivity. © 2017, Ankara University. All rights reserved.