Cognitive stimulation of executive functions through computational thinking

•The teaching of computational thinking in school children, in addition to improving computer skills, is expected to improve other higher cognitive processes, such as executive functions.•Computational thinking training in school children improved performance in visuospatial working memory, sequenti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental child psychology 2023-11, Vol.235, p.105738-105738, Article 105738
Main Authors: Robledo-Castro, Carolina, Hederich-Martínez, Christian, Castillo-Ossa, Luis F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coding
Cognitive development
Cognitive stimulation
Cognitive training
Computational thinking
Executive functions
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Summary:•The teaching of computational thinking in school children, in addition to improving computer skills, is expected to improve other higher cognitive processes, such as executive functions.•Computational thinking training in school children improved performance in visuospatial working memory, sequential planning, and cognitive inhibition.•Computational thinking training showed no effects on verbal working memory and visuospatial planning. The healthy development of cognitive functions, including executive functions, has been shown to depend mainly on the experiences and learning opportunities of people, especially during childhood. Over the past few years, researchers have been studying the impacts of diverse types of interventions on children’s cognitive development in which computational thinking programs are a recent field. This pilot study evaluated the effect of computational thinking training based on the “Programming for Children” program on the executive functions of children aged 10 and 11 years: working memory, inhibition, and planning (N = 30). The results showed that children in the experimental group improved on tests of visuospatial working memory, cognitive inhibition, and sequential planning compared with the control group. However, tests of verbal working memory, memory strategy, and visual spatial planning did not show any observed changes. Although this was an exploratory study, and its findings should be interpreted cautiously due to the small sample size, the findings support the relevance and feasibility of conducting similar larger studies with larger samples.
ISSN:0022-0965
1096-0457
DOI:10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105738