Title: Coding activities in early childhood: a systematic review

Authors: Mustafa Uğraş; Habibe Güneş; Hilal Uğraş; Stamatios Papadakis; Michail Kalogiannakis

Addresses: Faculty of Education, Firat University, 23000 Elazig, Turkey ' Faculty of Education, Firat University, 23000 Elazig, Turkey ' Child Development Department, Karakoçan Vocational High School, Firat University, 23000 Elazig, Turkey ' Department of Preschool Education, University of Crete, 74100, Rethymno, Greece ' Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly, 38221, Volos, Greeece

Abstract: The current study aims to systematically review the literature on teaching basic coding skills in early childhood education, particularly for children aged 3 to 8 years. A systematic literature review was conducted of 45 articles published in Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, SpringerLink, Sage Journals, Taylor & Francis Online, ERIC, JSTOR and Google Scholar on using coding activities in the preschool years from 2014-2023. The review presents empirical research with young learners and reports on relevant frameworks and curricula, the impact of pedagogical approaches and tools on learning, and the learning outcomes and pedagogical benefits of teaching coding. Plugged and unplugged coding activities can be introduced to young learners as a stand-alone subject or integrated into the regular kindergarten curriculum based on the studies reviewed. Additionally, coding can be incorporated into literacy and storytelling activities as a developmentally appropriate approach. The authors conclude that for educators to become competent in introducing coding activities into early childhood education, future research should focus on developing curricula that fully integrate coding and accompanying teacher training programmes.

Keywords: early childhood education; ECE; coding skills; computational thinking; CT; robotics; systematic literature review; PRISMA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTEL.2025.143512

International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 2025 Vol.17 No.1, pp.45 - 80

Received: 19 Sep 2023
Accepted: 07 Oct 2023
Published online: 30 Dec 2024 *

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