Simultaneously Fostering Computational Thinking and Social-Emotional Competencies in 4th Graders Using Scratch: A Feasibility Study

Abstract

Social-emotional skills and computational thinking are related to problem-solving skills. Even though these are crucial areas in today’s world, they are only rarely taught in school and interventions that target these areas simultaneously are still very rare. We therefore developed a four-day workshop with the aim of fostering computational thinking and social-emotional skills in Grade 4 students. To do so, we used the child-friendly programming language Scratch. In the present paper, we investigate the feasibility of such a workshop. In total, 18 students participated. Data was collected via observation and interviews and analysed by qualitative content analysis. Results showed that students liked working with Scratch and liked working on social-emotional challenges. The workshop was found to work well and students worked independently. Pair work activity was found to be particularly beneficial. Although some issues initially proved challenging (mostly relating to “how to” issues in Scratch), these may easily be addressed by making suitable adaptations to the introduction of the program provided on Day 1 of the workshop.