Teaching Robotics with Problem Based Learning to Improve Students' Computational Thinking Skills, Coding Skills and Positive Affects

This study aimed to examine the effect of the teaching of robotic coding designed according to the problem based learning (PBL) approach for secondary school students (11-12 ages) on their coding skills, computational thinking (CT) skills and positive affects. This study used a 'pretest-posttest quasi-experimental model with the control group' and the study group consisted of 178 fifth-grade secondary school students. During the research process, 104 students in the experimental group were taught using the 'teaching of robotic coding with problem based learning method', while 74 students in the control group were taught using the 'teaching of robotic coding with the traditional learning method' for five weeks. According to the results obtained from the research, it was seen that both the experimental and control groups' coding skills and CT skills increased significantly. However, the experimental group students' coding and CT skills were significantly more developed than those of the control group. In addition, during the treatment, each of the problem scenarios given to the experimental group according to the PBL approach was found to have significantly increased the positive affects of the students. As a result of the discussion on literature and research findings, it was said that PBL and CT skills can be bidirectional. This claim needs to be further explored.