This study aimed to examine whether a computational thinking (CT) intervention related to a) number knowledge and arithmetic b) algebra, and c) geometry impacts students’ learning performance in primary schools. To this end, a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent group design was employed, with 61 students assigned to the experimental group and 47 students to the control group (n = 108). The experimental group comprised students in primary school who were to be followed across the second and third grades. The experimental group underwent work with digital CT activities, while the control group did not receive such interventions. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on the data gathered to assess the ability differences between students from the experimental and control groups. The pre-and post-test results revealed that the experimental group’s performance was significantly better than the control group’s performance for the content areas involving CT activities.

In this paper we study how children aged 12-15 years learn together with their parents while solving a series of playful inquiry-based tasks with an educational robot. The purpose of the study is to understand how children and their parents learn mathematics and computational thinking in non-formal out-of-school learning activities. For the study we designed tasks that included mathematic problem solving and programming. The tasks were designed based on input from three mathematics teachers who participated in individual workshops. Over a period of approximately six weeks, three families worked together on the tasks. In the process, they were told to self-record and self-assess the process. The families video-recorded the process and after each task they completed they answered a few questions. At the end of the intervention, we interviewed the families about the process. The results showed examples of how the families worked with mathematics and programming within different practices. In general, the children were more challenged when it came to understanding the problems, the abstraction process and problem solving. In this part they received guidance from the parents. Conversely, the children were not particularly challenged by programming and in applying mathematics in the solutions..

This article contributes new knowledge on collaboration within and between Change Laboratory sessions and how it offers the potential to support the zone of proximal development and the expansive learning of participants. The Change Laboratory is a formative intervention method that helps participants transform their practices. This qualitative study examines how six educators participating in a Change Laboratory intervention dealt with problems that arise when implementing digital artifacts in teaching mathematics. We collected data through participant observation between sessions and video recordings during sessions. We conducted the data analysis abductively, using the seven expansive learning actions as an analytical framework. The findings highlight how collaboration between the researcher and the participants, both during and between Change Laboratory sessions, helped support the participants’ zone of proximal development and expansive learning. This close collaboration enabled the educators to collectively reflect on and transform their teaching practices, specifically by incorporating digital artifacts into their educational routines. The study provides important insights into how digital artifacts can be successfully implemented in practice using Change Laboratories, emphasizing the importance of supporting educators in their zone of proximal development. Using a theoretical perspective grounded in cultural-historical activity theory, the study contributes to understanding how change occurs in the educational field.

Although play naturally embeds computational thinking (CT) and mathematical learning in early childhood education, designing developmentally appropriate learning activities that purposefully nurture and extend these competencies remains a challenge. This study investigates how young children engage with foundational mathematical and computational concepts through analog (DUPLO^®) and digital (Blue-Bot) tools in a play-responsive early childhood education workshop setting. The study adopts a qualitative workshop format aimed at promoting playful exploration and active experimentation, involving eleven 4–5-year-old children and their two teachers. Based on a sociocultural perspective, the findings highlight that mathematics is a human activity embedded in everyday playful practices. In particular, unplugged analog activities, embedded within an open-ended narrative framework, guided and structured the process. Based on these findings, we suggest “computational play” as a framework for developmentally appropriate integration of computational thinking (CT) and mathematics. This framework offers implications for educators seeking to support early CT and mathematical learning in playful, exploratory early childhood education (ECE) environments.