Unplugged coding in early childhood: Problem-solving strategies across task-based activities

Abstract

Early computational thinking plays an increasingly important role in supporting young children’s problem-solving and cognitive flexibility in a technology-rich learning environment. This study explores the problem-solving strategies used by 50 children (aged 5–6) during unplugged algorithm and debugging tasks, examining variations by task type and gender through a mixed-method design. Findings show that children employing more strategies achieved higher scores on both tasks. Post hoc comparisons revealed significant differences between children using no strategies and those using at least one, as well as between those using one strategy and those using three or more. No significant gender differences emerged in strategy use or performance. Strategies such as visualizing, questioning, fix-up techniques, and commenting were linked to higher scores, while not using strategies related to lower performance. Results emphasize the importance of fostering diverse strategy use in early computational thinking and suggest strategy diversity may indicate cognitive flexibility. Overall, young children’s problem-solving was more influenced by strategy use and scaffolding than gender.