Computational Thinking and Tinkering: Exploration Study of Primary School Students’ in Robotic and Graphical Programming

Abstract

The study was conducted to analyse the effect of a robotic program to primary school children. In order to succeed in a world increasingly dependent on technology, computational thinking is important. Computational thinking is considered as an important skill for students in 21-st learning century. Computational thinking provides basic knowledge in the design of generalization problem; decomposition, data representation, generalization, modeling, and algorithm. Educational robotics associated much with computational thinking and the subject of computer science through programming module has been emphasized by the education ministry recently and was introduced formally in the primary school curriculum, which focuses on solving technological problems. The instrument used to measure the technological problem solving is Technological Problem Solving Inventory (PSI-TECH). Quasi-experiments was implemented in this study, involved experimental group and control group which were equal in selected characteristics. The robotic and basic visual programming program conducted for 10 weeks, consistent with the school syllabus and activities. Data were collected before and after the program, and quantitative analysis of t-test and ANOVA were used. Result had shown a significance positive value for the experimental group after the program. This study contributes in the field of education, especially teachers in investigating the problem-solving skills among students. In addition, diversification of study in the field of robotics.