REKA ELKOMIKA: Jurnal Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat

ISSN(p): 2723-3235 | ISSN(e): 2723-3243 | Vol. 3 | No. 3 | Pages 142 - 151

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26760/rekaelkomika.v3i3.142-151 October 2022

Computational Thinking and Coding for Kids

Training for Elementary School Teachers
DEWI INDRIATI HADI PUTRI1, TAUFIK RIDWAN2,3, NUUR WACHID ABDUL MAJID4,
HAFIZIANI EKA PUTRI5, DIKY ZAKARIA2 AND YOHANES ADI NUGROHO2
1Program Studi Sistem Telekomunikasi, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
2Program Studi Mekatronika dan Kecerdasan Buatan, Universitas Pendidikan
Indonesia
3Sistem Informasi, Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang
4Program Studi Pendidikan Sistem dan Teknologi Informasi, Universitas Pendidikan

Indonesia
5Program Studi Pendidikan Guru Sekolah Dasar, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Email: [email protected]

Received 15 August 2022 | Revised 17 September 2022 | Accepted 27 September 2022

ABSTRACT

Computational thinking and coding are thinking skills that are recently expected to
be acquired by elementary school children as the era of the industrial revolution
4.0 requires students to be familiar with the use of technology. In some developed
countries, the two skills have been included in elementary school curriculum.
However, the situation is different in the context of Indonesia since teachers or
instructors who are able to provide these skills are inadequate. Therefore, this
training was intended to socialize and educate the application of coding and
computational thinking, especially to elementary school teachers so that they have
the ability to equip their students with those skills. The participants of this training
were teachers of Labschool UPI Purwakarta. The training was conducted in one
day containing the concepts and practices of ICT and computational thinking as
well as coding for kids. The result of satisfaction questionnaire distributed to the
participants after the training shows a good level of satisfaction in terms of training
materials, delivery of materials, and the usefulness of activities as much as 71,4%,
57,1% and 92,9% consecutively. The teachers hope that follow-up trainings are
carried out to increase their knowledge and ability in developing technology-based
learning.

Keywords: children, coding for kids, computational thinking, elementary school

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1. INTRODUCTION

The characteristics of learning that appear in the digital era of the 21st century require the
academic community to adapt to technology development, create ideas, interact as well as
collaborate in social matters by looking at various aspects that will be applied. Responding to
the situation, Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture, Nadiem Makarim, introduces the
4C Policy standing for Collaboration, Communication, Critical thinking, and Creativity. This
policy is also strengthened with computational thinking slogan, which has begun to be
discoursed and planned to be implemented in Indonesian education system starting from
elementary schools, junior high schools, to senior high schools. This is in line with (Mgova,
2018) which clearly states that in the 21st century, problem solving skills combined with
computational thinking skills such as problem formulation, decomposition, algorithms, pattern
recognition and abstraction thinking skills are important.

Computational thinking is a term related to the practices of problem-solving skills by reasoning

and analysis. Basically, computational thinking is not only related to computers, but also to
concepts and thought processes that are used to support problem solving in multidisciplinary
sciences. Computational thinking skills also refer to the skills of direct problem solving actions
through systematic steps (Danoebroto & Listiani, n.d.). Related to this, the ability to solve
problems needs to be trained from an early age so that children are trained and proficient in
solving problems. Therefore, teaching computational thinking skills is critical to facilitate
children developing their problem-solving skills.

The process of understanding computational thinking in children especially in K-12 is complex,

requiring systemic change, teacher involvement, and significant resource development. To
make it easier, collaboration with the computer science education community is critical to this
effort (Barr & Stephenson, 2011). Moreover, computational thinking can be taught since
the elementary school level by making connections to a subject or by providing examples of
solving simple problems found in daily activities (Rosadi et al., 2020).

The integration of computational thinking in education is important as it offers various benefits,

namely: 1) improving students' analytical thinking skills; 2) allowing students to have a better
understanding of programming, that the goal is to solve problems and not just about code; 3)
improving students' views on programming and boosting their self-confidence; and 4) having
the possibility to be used as a clear indicator of academic success, this is because
computational thinking scores have a strong correlation with academic success in general
(Lockwood & Mooney, 2017). In addition, computational thinking also encourages children
to be active and able to independently solve their various problems.

One of the efforts to improve computational thinking is to teach coding for kids. Case studies
on the use of coding for children especially using ScratchJr provide an impact in creating a
framework to support children's exploration of computational thinking and development of
computer science skills (Sullivan & Bers, 2019). Seeing its importance, in Singapore the
coding for fun program has become a compulsory subject taught to elementary school students
with additional learning materials on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity (Lady et al.,
2021; Franedya, 2019). This is different from what is in Indonesia, where materials on
coding for kids and computational thinking are only taught in non-formal education institutions
such as after school courses. Even then, it is limited to big cities. All those make coding for
kids and computational thinking less popular. Added to the mentioned problems is the limited
human resources as mentioned by (Fajri & Utomo, 2019) on the lack of teachers or
instructors who can provide these skills to students.

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So, the question that arises is how to teach coding to children? Of course, the treatment of
teaching coding for children is different from teaching adults. Children need to be stimulated
in a fun way and fortunately, learning programming languages can now be learned easily and
with fun (Sandy, 2020).

There are several stages where each has its own target to make children interested in learning
programming. When starting to learn coding, children do not need to be introduced directly to
the real programming language. At the introduction stage, children learn basic algorithms
(problem solving steps) before they finally learn to use tools in coding. Children is also
introduced to basic programming concepts such as sequences, loops, or conditional concepts
in fun and age-appropriate activities. Other approach in teaching coding to children is in the
introduction stage, they learn basic algorithms by making simple animations, then in the next
stage they learn transformation so that the characters in games look more interesting. Finally,
children learn how to make more interactive functions from these characters so that in the
end they can make the games they want (Permatasari, 2020; Yu et al., 2020).

Based on the previously mentioned explanation, there is a need for socialization, education,
and training in implementing learning computational thinking and coding for kids to Indonesian
teachers. Therefore, the training was carried out to meet the need. The prospective
participants of the training were pre-service teachers as it was hoped that these young
teachers could become models and agents in implementing the method of teaching
computational thinking and coding for kids in any elementary school they taught.

2. METHODS

Basically, there are certainly differences in teaching computational thinking and coding for kids
between to elementary school teachers and to students majoring in Information and
Communication Technology. Teaching computational thinking and coding for kids to
elementary school teachers should be packaged as attractively as possible so that it is easy
for them to teach what they learn in the training to elementary school students.

Figure 1. Command code block in Scratch

This Community Service Program is intended to be a kind of Training of Trainers (ToT) of

which participants are going to teach coding for kids and computational thinking later on to
elementary school students. Therefore, the participants of the program were young teachers
at the Laboratory School of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Purwakarta Campus. They were

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chosen because they are young teachers, so it is easier for them to understand programming
and have better ICT literacy. The Laboratory School was chosen as it is a pilot school of the
university and the COVID-19 pandemic was still in progress. Throughout this program, the
participants were given two one-day trainings which included the practices of introducing and
packaging coding and computational thinking for kids. Moreover, the participants were also
given knowledge of how to introduce those two things above to children. In addition, the
participants were also given introductory materials on ICT literacy & security awareness.

Broadly speaking, the implementation of this community service program was carried out in
two stages as follows: (a) In the preparation stage, which coincided with the Covid-19
outbreak, the Community Services team had to plan the right implementation method to stay
safe and avoid the emergence of new clusters. To do so, the workshop was then carried out
in a form of blended learning, where the offline meeting was attended by a maximum limit of
50% of the total room capacity, which is only 10 people, and online opening ceremony in form
of webinar that was attended by any person who wished to know the workshop such as
elementary school teachers in Purwakarta Regency, parents, and prospective students. The
workshop activities were carried out by implementing COVID-19 health protocols such as
requiring participants to wear masks and have their body temperatures checked; and (b) the
implementation was carried out in two events, namely online and offline. The offline workshop
was carried out in one day on September 3rd, 2021 at the Computer Lab Lt. II UPI Purwakarta
Campus, attended by 8 participants from the UPI Purwakarta Laboratory Elementary School.
Meanwhile, the online activity was held on September 4th, 2021 using Zoom application.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The next stage after preparation is implementation. The activity was carried out in one day on
September 3rd, 2021 at the Computer Lab Lt. II UPI Purwakarta Campus. The workshop was
attended by 8 participants and started from checking the participants' body temperatures by
the committee with a maximum temperature tolerance of 360C. When the participants met the
temperature qualifications, then they registered by filling out the attendance list and getting
ID cards as well as seminar kits. The implementation of registration used a queue system with
a distance of 1 meter between the participants. Then they were directed to enter the room
guided by the committee according to the place that had been arranged. When all participants
were seated, the workshop was opened with a direct speech of the Director of UPI Purwakarta
Campus, Prof. Turmudi M.Ed., M.Sc., Ph.D, and online a direct speech of the Head of PGSD
Study Program Dr. Hafiziani Eka Putri., M. Pd as shown in figure 2.

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Yohanes Adi Nugroho

Figure 2. Documentation of the opening ceremony: Opening speech from the Director of
UPI Purwakarta and the Head of the PGSD Study Program

Furthermore, the provision of the first material with the topic of ICT literacy and security
awareness in children was delivered by Nuur Wachid Abdulmajid. S.Pd., M.Pd as shown in
figure 3.

Figure 3. Documentation of ICT literacy and security awareness material.

In the second session, the material was given by the chief executive, Dewi Indriati Hadi Putri.
S.Pd., M.T with the topic of the benefits of training coding and computational thinking in
children as shown in figure 4.

Figure 4. Documentation of the benefits of teaching coding and computational thinking in

children material.

Figure 5. Exploration session of coding for kids.

The third session was providing coding practice materials to children using a scratch application
guided by Taufik Ridwan. S.T., M.T and continued with the exploration session which was
followed enthusiastically by the participants. In this session, the participants made

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 Training of Coding for Kids and Computational Thinking for Elementary School Teachers

programming for children using simple programming languages, namely the code blocks which
is available in the scratch application tools. The best participants who made the program were
given a module prize by the committee as shown in figure 5.

The last activity was filling out questionnaires to get the participants' responses to the
activities. The activity was closed by the chief executive, Dewi Indriati Hadi Putri. S.Pd, MT.
followed by a group photo session and the distribution of the certificates as shown in figure 6.

Figure 6. Photo session with attendance.

The online implementation started from the virtual background design stage and preparation
for the zoom meeting (figure 7 and 8). For the material, it was still the same as offline activities
which consisted of 3 materials, namely ICT literacy and security awareness, the benefits of
training coding and computational thinking in children, and coding practicum for kids using the
scratch application.

Figure 7. Virtual background for webinar. Figure 8. Online attendances.

To find out the responses of the participants to the workshop activities, the next step was to
give a questionnaire as an evaluation before the last session (a group photo session). Through
the questionnaire form, two types of data were obtained, namely qualitative data and
quantitative data. In the questionnaire there are 8 questions whose answers contained
numbers to indicate the scale of approval of the statements on the questionnaire starting from
a scale of 1 to 4 with criteria from poor to very good. The questionnaire covered two main
aspects, namely the presenters and the implementation of the training. Quantitative data was
processed by calculating the percentage using equation 1 as follow.

𝑂𝑏𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
𝑥 100……..[1]

The number of participants are 8 people so that the maximum score obtained is 32 or a
maximum percentage of 100% if all participants answer on a scale of 4. While the value
obtained depends on the participants' entries. If all participants give a score of 1, the lowest

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Yohanes Adi Nugroho
number is 8 or a minimum percentage of 25%. Based on this, the difference between the
maximum percentage and the minimum percentage is 75%.

Community service team uses a Likert scale of 1 to 4, thus the interval class is also divided
into four levels. The interval value obtained is 18.75% with the following calculation: (75%)/4
. The results of the conversion as well as the level of satisfaction are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. The level of participants' satisfaction to workshop implementation

No Percentage range Description
1. 81,26% - 100% Very good
2. 62,51% - 81,25% Good
3. 43,76% - 62,50% Fair enough
4. 25,00% - 43,75% Not good

Based on these criteria and obtained data on the questionnaire and then processed using
equation 1, the results obtained are graphs as shown in Figure 9 and Figure 10.

Figure 9. Community service questionnaire results.

Based on the results of the questionnaire in Figure 9, it was found that the majority of
participants chose a scale of 3 and 4. Then participants were given other questions to fill out.
The results for the follow-up questionnaire are shown in figure 10.

Figure 10. Community service continuation questionnaire results

Qualitative data obtained from participants' answers in the form of essays filled with
suggestions in order to improve the implementation of similar workshops in the future. Figure

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11 is an excerpt from the responses written by the participants regarding consumption, the
friendliness of the committee, the affordability of the workshop venue and facilities:

Figure 11. Participants' responses to the workshop activities

Other results regarding responses to coding and computational thinking materials can be seen
below (figure 12 and 13).

Figure 12. Initial response of participants before training/workshop.

Furthermore, participants were asked about how they felt after participating in the material in
this training. The answers from the participants both offline and online are as follows:

Figure 13. Participants' responses after the training/workshop.

Furthermore, participants were asked about the factors that challenge the implementation of
coding for kids and computational thinking and what methods are suitable in teaching those
to children. The result is as in Figure 14.

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Yohanes Adi Nugroho

Figure 14. Percentage of responses to opportunities and application of computational

thinking

Overall, the participants' suggestions are to give positive feedbacks to Community Services
team, for example the need for more time allocation for the implementation of activities, and
the continuity of collaboration with the UPI Purwakarta Laboratory Elementary School in the
future in creating technology-based learning media innovations. Based on the given
questionnaire, participants understand the presented materials well and will apply them in
classroom learning. Regarding these suggestions, the community service team realizes that
during this pandemic the committee is obliged to limit the implementation time according to
the covid 19 health protocol. In the future, it is hoped that similar workshop activities can be
carried out even better in terms of material and techniques. The collaboration between UPI
Purwakarta and Labschool UPI Purwakarta will continue to improve the quality of teachers in
the labschool.

4. CONCLUSIONS

The implementation of the Community Service raised topics related to coding for kids and
computational thinking training for children as well as understanding ICT literacy. These two
things are very important, because online learning conditions more often require the
application of technology in every activity. To be more effective in applying online learning in
technology, children can improve their skills in using technology.

In this training, there are several suggestions from participants, namely to provide positive
things to community service implementers, for example the need for more time allocation for
the implementation of activities, the existence of continuous collaboration with SD
Laboratorium UPI Purwakarta in the future in creating technology-based learning media
innovations. Regarding these suggestions, the community service team realizes that during
this pandemic the committee is obliged to limit the implementation time according to the covid
19 health protocol. In the future, it is hoped that similar training activities can be carried out
even better in terms of material and technical.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This community service acitivites is financed by Dana Rencana Kerja dan Anggaran Tahunan
Penugasan Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat Universitas Pendidikan
Indonesia Tahun Anggaran 2021 Dengan Surat Keputusan Rektor Nomor:
835/UN40/PT.01.02/2021.

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