The impact of computer science education in primary schools: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Iraq.
With the growing digitization of society, there is a need to enhance computational thinking as an indispensable skill for modern daily life. Consequently, computer science education for children at early ages has become increasingly important. This study conducts a randomized controlled trial to exa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323166 |
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| author | Satoshi Shimizutani Shimpei Taguchi Hiroyuki Yamada |
| author_facet | Satoshi Shimizutani Shimpei Taguchi Hiroyuki Yamada |
| author_sort | Satoshi Shimizutani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | With the growing digitization of society, there is a need to enhance computational thinking as an indispensable skill for modern daily life. Consequently, computer science education for children at early ages has become increasingly important. This study conducts a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of the interventions using educational robotics as well as computer-aided mathematics drills (via a "math app") on students' performance in primary schools in Basra, Iraq. We provide several new empirical findings. First, the short-run impact of robotics-based learning on computational thinking is positive and statistically significant for girls, particularly poor performing girls, but not for boys. Second, the impact on computational thinking is augmented by introducing a math app, further improving computational thinking. Together, these two interventions also enhance general intelligence. Third, the positive impact was still evident more than three months after the interventions for girls who received both computer science and math education, suggesting their complementarity. Our results show that computer science education using educational robots in primary schools is effective in enhancing computational thinking and relevant skills. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7c9f262f5aab428e85a67c3f3f0c5b24 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-7c9f262f5aab428e85a67c3f3f0c5b242025-08-20T03:21:51ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01205e032316610.1371/journal.pone.0323166The impact of computer science education in primary schools: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Iraq.Satoshi ShimizutaniShimpei TaguchiHiroyuki YamadaWith the growing digitization of society, there is a need to enhance computational thinking as an indispensable skill for modern daily life. Consequently, computer science education for children at early ages has become increasingly important. This study conducts a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of the interventions using educational robotics as well as computer-aided mathematics drills (via a "math app") on students' performance in primary schools in Basra, Iraq. We provide several new empirical findings. First, the short-run impact of robotics-based learning on computational thinking is positive and statistically significant for girls, particularly poor performing girls, but not for boys. Second, the impact on computational thinking is augmented by introducing a math app, further improving computational thinking. Together, these two interventions also enhance general intelligence. Third, the positive impact was still evident more than three months after the interventions for girls who received both computer science and math education, suggesting their complementarity. Our results show that computer science education using educational robots in primary schools is effective in enhancing computational thinking and relevant skills.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323166 |
| spellingShingle | Satoshi Shimizutani Shimpei Taguchi Hiroyuki Yamada The impact of computer science education in primary schools: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Iraq. PLoS ONE |
| title | The impact of computer science education in primary schools: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Iraq. |
| title_full | The impact of computer science education in primary schools: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Iraq. |
| title_fullStr | The impact of computer science education in primary schools: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Iraq. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of computer science education in primary schools: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Iraq. |
| title_short | The impact of computer science education in primary schools: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Iraq. |
| title_sort | impact of computer science education in primary schools evidence from a randomized controlled trial in iraq |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323166 |
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