Coding in Primary Grades Boosts Children’s Executive Functions

Abstract

Several programs have been developed worldwide to improve children's executive functions (EFs). Yet, the role played in EF development by learning activities embedded in the school curriculum has received scarce attention. With two studies, we recently tested the effects of computational thinking (CT) and coding-a new element of the primary school curriculum-on the development of children's EFs. CT stimulates the ability to define a clear and orderly sequence of simple and well-specified steps to solve a complex problem. We conjecture that CT skills are associated to such EF processes as response inhibition and planning. In a first between-group cluster-randomized controlled trial, we tested the effects of 1-month coding activities on 76 first graders' planning and response inhibition against those of 1-month standard STEM activities of a control group. In a second study, we tested the effects of 1-month coding activities of 17 second graders in two ways: within group (longitudinally), against 7 months of standard activities experienced by the same children (experimental group); and between groups, in comparison to the effects of standard STEM activities in a control group of 19 second graders. The results of the two studies show significant benefits of learning to code: children exposed to coding improved significantly more in planning and inhibition tasks than control children did. The longitudinal data showed that improvements in planning and inhibition skills after 1 month of coding activities (eight lessons) were equivalent to or greater than the improvement attained after 7 months of standard activities. These findings support the hypothesis that learning CT via coding can significantly boost children's spontaneous development of EFs.

Serious Game as Support for the Development of Computational Thinking for Children with Hearing Impairment

“…On the other hand, Arfé et al [62] indicated that children between the ages of 5 and 7 undergo rapid changes in their cognitive functioning, and CT involves a set of higher-order cognitive abilities, such as (1) analyzing problems and decomposing them into smaller parts, (2) planning a sequence of steps or instructions for the solution, and (3) recognizing errors in the solution and fixing them. Therefore, in the serious game, the children follow a set of instructions that corresponds to the steps the character must follow to get home.…”

Efecto del entrenamiento en ábaco mental sobre la flexibilidad cognitiva: un estudio exploratorio

“…As frontoparietal connectivity is associated with development of executive functioning, MA training could be a tool to foster maturation of these areas. On the other hand, recent research showed that modify how children code information in classroom leads to better performance in executive functioning tasks (Arfé, Vardanega, Montuori & Lavanga, 2019). Keeping in mind that MA entails a change in the strategy of represent mathematical symbols, then improvement in cognitive flexibility may be accounted to the switch in the coding information paired to MA training.…”

The Effect of Robotics-Based Storytelling Activities on Primary School Students’ Computational Thinking

“…Programmable robots serve as a motivating, didactic tool to promote computational thinking in addition to traditional approaches [24]. Coding is considered an essential skill of computational thinking [15,25]. Arfé et al [25] found in their study with primary school children that coding activities are effective in developing planning skills that are plastic in young learners.…”

“…Coding is considered an essential skill of computational thinking [15,25]. Arfé et al [25] found in their study with primary school children that coding activities are effective in developing planning skills that are plastic in young learners. Grover and Pea [13] (p.40) mentioned in their review of CT environments and tools for K-12 students that "curricular activities such as game design and robotics have typically served well as a means for the iterative exploration of CT".…”