Practical Programming Education for Elementary Students using Pair Learning in Short-Term Lessons

This study proposes an educational program aimed at primary school students to learn the basic structure of programming independently, while promoting cooperation between students in a short period of time. The program not only covers the fundamental concepts of programming, but also uses examples of household electrical appliances commonly used in everyday life to help students understand the role of embedded systems and how programs run within these systems. Additionally, one of the goals of the program is to make programming both interesting and enjoyable for students. The lessons were delivered using robot programming materials. Each 45-minute lesson followed a pair-learning format, ensuring that both students in each pair created their own programs. This approach was designed to avoid any knowledge bias between the two students. The lessons were implemented with 5th and 6th graders from two primary schools. The results showed that 90% of the students understood the concepts related to embedded systems. It was also confirmed that the students' interest and enthusiasm for programming increased after the lessons compared to before.