Abstract Computational thinking (CT) skills are becoming essential in all aspects of work and life, and CT has become part of the K-12 curriculum around the world. Yet, more research is needed to better understand how to help elementary school students acquire CT skills effectively. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of partial pair programming (PPP) on elementary school students' CT skills and self-efficacy (SE). The study included four 4th grade classes, with a total of 171 students, who were taking the course entitled “Computational Thinking with Scratch” with the same teacher for one semester. Two classes (84 students) were in the Experimental Group (EG, 44 boys and 40 girls) while two other classes (87 students) were in the Control Group (CG, 45 boys and 42 girls). The students in the EG were paired up for the programming assignments while the students in the CG did the assignments on their own. The results showed that the students in the EG improved their CT skills and SE more significantly than those in the CG group. There was a low correlation between CT and SE in the post-test of both groups. The interviews with the teacher and the students afterwards provided insights in understanding the results. The findings suggest that in K-12 programming teachers could use PPP as an effective approach to improve students’ CT skills, programming SE, and beyond.

中文翻译：

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部分结对编程对小学生计算思维能力和自我效能感的影响

摘要 计算思维 (CT) 技能在工作和生活的各个方面都变得必不可少，而 CT 已成为全球 K-12 课程的一部分。然而，需要更多的研究来更好地了解如何帮助小学生有效地获得 CT 技能。本研究的目的是检验部分结对编程 (PPP) 对小学生 CT 技能和自我效能 (SE) 的有效性。该研究包括四个四年级班级，共有 171 名学生，他们与同一位老师一起学习了一个学期的“从头开始的计算思维”课程。实验组中有两个班级（84 名学生）（EG，44 名男生和 40 名女生），而另外两个班级（87 名学生）在控制组（CG，45 名男生和 42 名女生）中。EG 的学生结对完成编程作业，而 CG 的学生自己完成作业。结果表明，EG组的学生在CT技能和SE方面的提高比CG组的学生更显着。两组后测中CT与SE的相关性较低。之后与老师和学生的访谈为理解结果提供了见解。研究结果表明，在 K-12 编程教师可以使用 PPP 作为提高学生 CT 技能、编程 SE 等的有效方法。两组后测中CT与SE的相关性较低。之后与老师和学生的访谈为理解结果提供了见解。研究结果表明，在 K-12 编程教师可以使用 PPP 作为提高学生 CT 技能、编程 SE 等的有效方法。两组后测中CT与SE的相关性较低。之后与老师和学生的访谈为理解结果提供了见解。研究结果表明，在 K-12 编程教师可以使用 PPP 作为提高学生 CT 技能、编程 SE 等的有效方法。