Project Programming Game: Step-by-Step Development of Computational Thinking in Young Children

Abstract

This study addresses the dilemma of formulaic teaching tendency and personalized instruction in early childhood programming education, and constructs a garden-based programming game curriculum based on project-based learning by using screenless programming tools as a carrier. Based on Zhou Yizhen's three-dimensional framework of computational thinking and constructivist learning theory, a three-stage behavioral development model is proposed. The research innovatively implements the environment layering strategy and dynamic teacher-child interaction mode, and illustrates the step-by-step program of cultivating computational thinking with the case of the “ten foot-high world” project-based programming game activity, so that young children can realize the core ability of computational thinking in the thinking leap of “imitation → debugging → reconstruction → innovation” and realize the core ability of computational thinking layer by layer. The program allows children to realize the hierarchical development and cross-disciplinary integration of the core ability of computational thinking in the process of “imitation → debugging → reconstruction → innovation”.