Exploring Children's Coding Process Through ScratchJr in Early Childhood

Abstract

Technology integration has become an essential part of education, and educational technology has incorporated with coding and programming even in early childhood. Even though there is research about early childhood teachers' perceptions about coding, there has been a lack of resources on how to explore young children's coding process. Therefore, this study aims to explore children's coding process through ScratchJr. This study was designed as qualitative research. Data was collected from 52 students through ScratchJr and observation form in public kindergartens in Burdur. Each child had a 30-minute session to complete the coding project. Afterward, these data were analyzed by applying content analysis and found seven themes: 'proceed with the purpose', 'interests towards the application', 'usage period of application', 'ability to follow the instructions, 'curiosities during the application use', 'non-instructional activities', 'exploring the detail features of the application'. As a result, it has been observed that preschool children have a high interest in practice. Most children used their time sessions in full. In fact, some children wanted to extend it. Only six children wanted to finish the application much earlier than their time. In addition, the majority completed the process efficiently based on their purpose by discovering the details of the application and associating it with real life, without losing their sense of curiosity from the first instructions until the end of the process. Finally, it was revealed that some children discovered new features and exhibited their creativity in non-instructional practice.