Evaluating Different Coding Interventions’ Efficacy on Preschool Children

Computational thinking (CT) and coding are increasingly introduced in early education as tools to support digital competence and higher-order cognitive skills. This study examined the effects of different coding-based CT interventions on coding performance, executive functions and visuospatial abilities in the final year of Italian preschool. Forty-five five-year-old children from two kindergartens participated in a seven-session intervention and completed coding, visuospatial, and inhibition tasks before and after the program. Results showed that the Combined group achieved the greatest improvement in coding accuracy, suggesting that integrating unplugged coding and ER may be especially effective for promoting coding-related skills. The Unplugged group showed the largest gains in visuospatial abilities, while no significant differences emerged for response inhibition.