The Effects of Programming Interventions in Early Childhood: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Programming skills are considered key skills in the 21st century. While recent meta-analyses confirm the positive effects of programming interventions in school children and university students, it is still unclear whether programming interventions are also effective in early childhood settings. Our meta-analysis clarifies this issue by synthesizing the effects of programming interventions, including various teaching tools and instructional approaches for 3- to 7-year-old children. The meta-analytic results from 23 early-childhood studies and 76 effect sizes showed a medium overall effect of d = +0.74, 95% CI [0.51, 0.97]. This effect remained when only randomized-controlled trials were considered. Furthermore, programming interventions’ unplugged activities were superior to screen-based activities, and interventions including robotics were more effective than those without robotics. Our results imply that early-childhood programming interventions have the potential to be employed in a wide range of contexts, groups of learners, and settings. Moreover, they offer useful learning opportunities in early childhood education.