Relevant review studies also supported that computer programming through robotics can be a promising educational tool for the integration of technology and engineering in early childhood STEM education (Ioannou and Makridou, 2018, Jung and Won, 2018).Įven though computational thinking through programming has been the subject of many research studies for academics, investigations examining the integration of computational thinking in education are limited (Voogt, Fisser, Good, Mishra, & Yadav, 2015), while empirical studies investigating programming in kindergarten and early elementary school years are scarce (Ching et al., 2018, Jung and Won, 2018, Kalelioğlu, 2018, Lye and Koh, 2014). At the same time, it has been documented that programming synergistically deepens the learning of STEM subjects and that its teaching should start as early as possible in school at all educational levels and ages (Sengupta et al., 2013, Wilensky et al., 2014). Recent advances in visual language-based systems using digital, tangible or hybrid media have enabled the introduction of programming and computational thinking concepts and ideas in early-childhood education settings (Bers et al., 2019, Elkin et al., 2016).
The authors conclude that future research should devote time and effort in the development of educational curricula in which the teaching of programming is fully integrated, as well as teacher training programs so that teachers become competent to teach programming in early childhood education. In addition, programming can be infused in literacy and storytelling activities as a developmentally appropriate delivery approach. Based on the empirical studies reviewed in this study, programming can be introduced to young learners as a stand-alone subject matter or can be integrated in the regular kindergarten curriculum with other subject areas such as music, movement and dance, art, science, mathematics, and literacy. The review presents empirical investigations with young learners and reports on relevant frameworks and curriculum programs, effects of teaching approaches and educational tools on learning, and learning outcomes and pedagogical benefits of teaching programming. The current study aims to provide a systematic review of the literature about the teaching of programming in early-childhood education, and specifically for the age group of 3–8 years old.
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