What is the Problem? A Situated Account of Computational Thinking as Problem-Solving in Two Danish Preschools

The purpose of the study is to provide an on-site description of how kindergarten children aged four to five years at two Danish kindergartens use algorithmic thinking (AT) to solve problems. The study does not assess the kindergarten children’s AT skills, nor their learning outcomes of specific tools or approaches. The research questions are: 1) How does problem solving unfold in the observed designs for learning algorithmic thinking in kindergartens? 2) What effect does this have on the relevance of AT activities in problem solving in kindergartens?

A general finding in the study is that kindergarten children do not exclusively, or primarily, make use of AT strategies. When the children in the study did not receive help or encouragement from an adult, they used other methods to solve the relevant problems. The study therefore concludes that algorithmic thinking must be seen as one of several resources in problem solving in kindergartens.

The study is based on institutional ethnography. Video observations were used as a method for collecting data. The researchers observed a total of eight on-site activities divided between two Danish kindergartens. The activities took place in the summer and autumn of 2020. 28 children, five kindergarten staff and two external educators participated in the study. The data amounted to a total of 14 hours of recording.

Odgaard, A. B. (2022). What is the Problem? A Situated Account of Computational Thinking as Problem-Solving in Two Danish Preschools. Künstliche Intelligenz 36, 47–57.