To plug or not to plug: exploring pedagogical differences for teaching informatics in primary schools

The demand to incorporate informatics into primary education is seen as a critical necessity both today, and for the future of modern societies. Numerous countries are currently revising their primary education curricula in order to incorporate informatics concepts and computational thinking skills. Although many successful initiatives have been implemented, countries commonly encounter shared obstacles related to teacher competence development, concept selection, learning content design, and the pedagogical approaches employed. This study explored the effectiveness of three pedagogical approaches on primary school students’ learning of informatics concepts. Mixed-method research with a concurrent embedded design in the form of a quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the three pedagogical approaches (two unplugged: role-play, hands-on, and one plugged: technology-mediated). A total of 55 fourth-grade students participated in the intervention where the instructional content focused on the core five concepts of informatics in primary school through 15 activities. Based on students’ pretest and posttest results, as well as their reflections, unique advantages and drawbacks of the three pedagogical approaches were revealed. Gender differences according to the results, reflections, and pedagogical approaches were each investigated. Although variations were noted in task completion and reflective outcomes, it is a crucial to recognise that the effectiveness of any approach may be contingent upon other contextual factors. The findings of this study are significant in terms of the potential influence of various pedagogical approaches on future educational practices, as well as policies for instructional designers at the primary school level.