Unplugged programming in an early primary technology classroom

Although using computers is the most common strategy to teach programming, “unplugged programming” (UP) has gained in popularity within educational settings. UP refers to the act of programming without a computer. However, research on UP has mainly focused on upper primary, middle-and high school students. The limited number of studies on UP in early primary school are, in addition, mainly quantitative effect studies. In this case study, we focused on the UP-classroom practice in early primary school during one lesson in technology (grade 1, 6-7-year-old students). The programming content, or the object of learning, that was in focus during the lesson was students’ capability to understand the idea of sequencing commands. The aim of the study was to explore what aspects of the object of learning emerge as critical in the UP classroom. Our analysis revealed that the students, to be able to understand the idea of sequencing commands, needed to discern several rather detailed aspects. Importantly, one can’t take for granted that these are aspects they discern when observing or interacting with programmable artefacts out of school. Rather, the results imply that it is a content that needs to be explicitly dealt with in the primary technology classroom.