Analysis of how primary-aged children learn to code: A year 5 case study using Ev3 LEGO® robotics and stimulated recall

Coding is an essential element of twenty-first century school curricula; however, it presents challenges for primary teachers. The problem addressed in this study is that despite vast research literature about coding in higher and tertiary education, how primary-aged children learning to code needs further investigation. Teaching ways of thinking for learning coding has received little attention in education research from the perspective of primary-aged children. Yet primary teachers have the responsibility to incorporate coding into school curriculum and many lack the training and knowledge of the discipline of coding. There has been little attention in education research direct from the study of primary-aged children. Teaching coding requires knowledge of how to support primary-aged children to develop the types of thinking used when learning to code. A qualitative case study was designed to observe the thinking of Year 5 children as they engaged in the coding challenge. The data was collected and analysed using think-aloud and video-stimulated recall interviews. Understanding the nature of children’s thinking when coding will better enable primary teachers to teach coding. The findings of the study unveiled a range of themes and sub-themes able to be categorised as 1. Behaviours 2. Skills and knowledge. The themes identified in the transcripts such as oral language, error analysis, cognitive, error correction, attitudes, and organising information, contribute to the understanding of how primary-aged children code, thereby, providing insight into the learning process for coding. Importantly, it has demonstrated that children who are learning to code express a broad range of behaviours, skills and knowledge for effective coding.