The Effect of Computer-Free Coding Education for Special Education Students on Problem-Solving Skills

Abstract

During recent years coding education has been an important issue in many countries. Coding education has been an important topic for these countries. One of the reasons why coding education is being discussed by educators and other partners of the schools is that it is seen as a key competence for students, and workers at developing problem-solving skills. Coding as an academic skill is seen as a part of logical reasoning. Coding is also accepted as one of the skills called “21st-century skills” required from individuals. Special education students are in a disadvantaged situation as in other learning platforms. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the place of coding education in developing problem-solving skills of special education students. Within the scope of the study, computer-free coding applications were carried out with the participation of 34 students having the mild intellectual disabilities who are continuing their education in a special education vocational school aged between 14 and 18. An observation form was used to evaluate problem-solving skills. There was a significant difference [t(24)=-7.19, p<.001] between the pre and post-course skills of the students. While the average score of the students’ problem-solving skills was 10.68 in pre-course, in the post-course this score increased to 13.36. The analysis of the findings showed that the students' skill scores in using problem-solving steps have increased in all these steps.

Digital age: The importance of 21st century skills among the undergraduates

“…One possible explanation is that when solving a problem in a group, students need to actively engage with their groupmates and think critically to produce an ideal solution. Therefore, it is suggested to include problem-solving skill into the curriculum as it is crucial for the acquisition of the 21st century skills (Demir, 2021). Following that, Item 5 had the second-highest number of strong agreement with a total of 62 respondents who strongly agreed with the statement.…”

“…Often referred as the ability to identify underlying problems and actively seeking for solutions, problem-solving has been propounded as another crucial skill to be acquired by students in the 21st century. Within the education sector, several authors (Furino, 2012;Karakoyun and Lindberg, 2020;Demir, 2021) mentioned that problem-solving has been highlighted as an essential skill in schools after the digital literacy skill and it is now introduced into students' learning process to stimulate their higher-order thinking skills. Based on the recent systematic review studied by Mahmud et al (2021), it reveals that the students possess different skills, including strategic thinking and problem-solving skills in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis.…”

Analysis of Studies on Coding Education: A Meta Synthesis Study

“…S35 (Eroglu & Hamzaoglu, 2021) To investigate the effect of robotic coding activities on secondary school students' attitudes towards science in the force and energy unit. S36 (Demir, 2021) To examine the place of coding education in developing problem solving skills of special education students. S37 (Yalcin & Akbbulut, 2021) To be able to demonstrate how the STEM approach can be integrated into robotics and coding education S38 (Ramazanoglu, 2021) To examine the effects of robotic coding practices on secondary school students' attitudes towards computers and their self-efficacy perceptions towards computational thinking skills.…”

Exploring the Predictive Potential of Complex Problem-Solving in Computing Education: A Case Study in the Introductory Programming Course

“…The authors argued that previous studies have focused largely on the potential causal relationship, while research on problem-solving as a predictor of programming performance has been less common. During the past decade, emerging educational movements, including computer science unplugged, computational thinking, and coding in block-based programming environments, have broadened the scope of problem-solving research in computing education from introductory programming to K-12 (e.g., [18][19][20]). Moreover, there is a great interest of researchers and educators to extend these initiatives to STEM [21].…”