About the Project
The aim of this project is to develop a computational thinking and coding skills education model for preschool, based on the Understanding by Design approach. Within the scope of this core objective, three sub-objectives will be pursued: (a) introducing teachers to the model, whose conceptual and theoretical framework has been defined by the researchers on an evidence-based footing grounded in the literature; evaluating the outputs with researchers, teachers and expert panelists; establishing the model's shared framework; and defining the learning-teaching processes for this structure; (b) developing an applicable model through an iterative process that includes classroom practices built on Understanding by Design-based teaching-learning processes; and (c) experimentally testing the model developed above. Computational thinking and coding, regarded today as the most important elements of digital transformation, are widely used in teaching digital skills and digital literacy. Nearly all of the studies conducted in Turkey have focused on supporting coding skills. The model to be developed within this project will have an original structure drawing on a range of developmental approaches (Learning by Design, Interest-Driven Creation, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, 21st Century Skills and STEM). Another original aspect of the study is that the model will be built on the Understanding by Design approach. The study is also original in that teachers play an active role in the “development-implementation-evaluation cycle” of designing and implementing the education program. In addition, the model, developed on the basis of the Understanding by Design (UbD) approach, will develop children's computational thinking and coding skills together and make them lasting, while providing effective learning experiences suited to children's developmental characteristics. It will be designed to address the relationship between objectives, content, learning situations and assessment stages, and to include the active participation of teachers, children and parents. Adapting a domestically produced robotics kit to support children's computational thinking and coding skills, and developing a developmental, adaptable education program around this kit, further add to the project's originality. The project will also adapt three assessment instruments for children into Turkish. The project will be carried out using the design-based research model. It will be conducted in four phases. In the first phase, the teachers who will take part in the model development process alongside the researchers will be selected (n=12); the core structures of the model, whose conceptual and theoretical framework has been defined by the researchers in light of the literature, will be evaluated through teacher training sessions and an expert panel; assessment instruments will be developed; the design process of Robibot, the robotics kit to be used in the model, will take place; and finally, the project website will be created. The second phase is the development of the model through a process encompassing the development-implementation-evaluation cycle. In this phase, activities with and without robots will be developed by the teachers and the research team, forms and worksheets will be prepared, and the activities will be implemented by the teachers. At the end of the development, implementation and evaluation process, which will run 2 days a week, 60-90 minutes a day, for a total of 15 weeks, a model booklet will be prepared. Following an expert panel and a workshop, the model booklet will be made ready for the testing process. In the third phase, the model will be tested through an experimental implementation. The effect of the activities in the model booklet on children's engineering design, computational thinking and coding skills, as well as on teachers' computational thinking and coding skills, will be examined using an experimental design. The design will include three groups. The first group (E1) will receive activities without robots, the second group (E2) will receive activities using the robotics kit, and the third group (C) will serve as the control group. Training sessions will be held for the new teachers joining the study, parents will be briefed, and pre-tests of the assessment instruments will be administered to these groups. After the model is implemented, post-tests of the assessment instruments will be conducted. In this phase, the research team will revise the model in light of the findings supported by qualitative data, and the model booklet will be finalized with the input of an expert panel. The fourth phase will cover the social impact analysis of the model and its dissemination. To increase the project's broader impact and make its outputs available to stakeholders, the products and activities prepared within the project will be shared through the website, workshops and social media. The model booklet will be sent by email to the departments of the Ministry of National Education's General Directorate of Preschool Education, to the provincial directorates of national education in every province, to the preschool education departments of universities, and to all public and private preschool institutions affiliated with the Gaziantep Provincial Directorate of National Education.
