Fare Coding con l’infanzia, una nuova prospettiva educativa. Un’esperienza sulle potenzialità del pensiero computazionale per i bambini di 4 anni

The aim of this work is to verify the pedagogical potential of Coding and robotics in learning processes: this research combines the educational and psychological media approach and focuses on the cognitive and socio-relational level of children. The study investigates the impact of unplugged and plugged Coding on the educational and media skills of 17 educators and is based on the research carried out by Lee (2020) on the inclusion of Coding in early childhood, on the theoretical references of Wing (2010) about computational thinking and its development in the school context, and on the theoretical frameworks proposed by Bers (2020), which regards Coding as a playful dimension that facilitates learning in childhood. The data, collected through quantitative and qualitative tools in a pre-intervention questionnaire proposed to educators and through an observation checklist given to children, recorded, on the educators’ part, some trepidation in using Coding with four-year-old children; this is clearly in contrast with the subsequent results of the post intervention questionnaire, in which we see that appreciation for Coding increased. It seems, therefore, that the concrete experience of the workshops demystified the perception of Coding as a possible tool for creative teaching work.