A framework for Computing Education that fosters the development of creativity and critical thinking skills in children

Abstract

Research in Human–Computer Interaction has increasingly emphasized the importance of designing technologies and educational practices that are meaningful, inclusive, and sensitive to users’ contexts. In early childhood education, teaching computing presents additional challenges due to children’s cognitive, social, and expressive characteristics, as well as the limited availability of pedagogical frameworks that integrate participatory design, learning activities, and assessment strategies. Despite growing interest in co-design and participatory design with children, there is still a lack of consolidated approaches that support teachers in designing, applying, and evaluating computing education activities for preschool children. This doctoral thesis proposed and empirically evaluated a framework to support the teaching of computing in early childhood education, grounded in HCI principles and participatory design practices, with a particular focus on fostering creativity and critical thinking in children aged four and five. The research adopts a cumulative empirical approach, structured as a collection of articles. First, a systematic mapping study was conducted to investigate how co-design and participatory design have been applied with preschool children, identifying techniques, participant roles, contexts, and methodological challenges. Based on the identified gaps, pedagogical design principles for computing education in early childhood were derived from a thematic analysis of the literature. In parallel, an action research study was carried out involving early childhood education teachers and undergraduate students in pedagogy and computer science, who collaboratively designed and refined unplugged computing activity plans through a series of workshops. To support learning assessment, creativity, and critical thinking rubrics were translated and adapted to the early childhood context. The design principles, design activity plans, and rubrics for assessments were validated by experts through focus groups. Finally, the proposed framework was evaluated through a quasi-experimental study conducted in real classroom settings, comparing an experimental group and a control group, using qualitative triangulation of multiple data sources. The studies resulted in a set of co-designed activity plans and a validated set of pedagogical design principles that together constitute the proposed framework. The classroom evaluation revealed qualitative improvements in the experimental group, particularly regarding children’s engagement, expression of ideas, collaborative behaviors, and manifestations of creativity and critical thinking during computing-related activities. The adapted assessment rubrics proved feasible for capturing qualitative evidence of these skills in early childhood contexts. This thesis contributes to HCI and computing education by: (i) providing a systematic synthesis of participatory design research involving preschool children; (ii) proposing and documenting co-designed activity plans for early childhood computing education; (iii) formalizing pedagogical design principles grounded in theory and expert validation; and (iv) presenting an empirically evaluated framework that integrates participatory design, pedagogy, and assessment. These contributions advance HCI research on design with children and offer actionable guidance for educators and researchers seeking to design and evaluate computing education experiences in early childhood settings.