Productive Failure to Promote Deeper Self-Directed Learning in Coding and Robotics Education

In a world characterized by unpredictable change, students in Computer Science education must be deeper self-directed learners who can take ownership of their learning and transfer knowledge and skills to new contexts. This article reports on how productive failure was incorporated into an introduct...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Education sciences Vol. 15; no. 11; p. 1427
Main Authors: van Zyl, Sukie, Havenga, Marietjie, Avrakotos-King, Fotiene
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2025
Subjects:
Active Learning
Analysis
Coding
coding and robotics education
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive load
Cognitive Processes
Competence
computer applications technology
Computer Oriented Programs
Computer science
Computer Science Education
Cooperative learning
cooperative pair programming
Critical thinking
Direct Instruction
Discussion (Teaching Technique)
Education
Educational Environment
Educational Needs
Educational Technology
Failure
Independent study
Influence of Technology
Information management
Interpersonal Relationship
Introductory Courses
Knowledge
Learner Engagement
Learning Experience
Learning Processes
Learning Strategies
Metacognition
Pedagogy
Preservice teachers
Problem solving
productive failure
Qualitative research
Robotics
Science education
Students
Teachers
Teaching
South Africa
ISSN:2227-7102, 2227-7102
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In a world characterized by unpredictable change, students in Computer Science education must be deeper self-directed learners who can take ownership of their learning and transfer knowledge and skills to new contexts. This article reports on how productive failure was incorporated into an introductory coding and robotics course to enhance deeper self-directed learning. The population was 42 fourth-year pre-service teachers from two different campuses of a South African University. All students were invited to participate in the research, and 37 students consented to participate. A basic interpretative qualitative research design was followed. Guided self-reflection documents were used as data-gathering methods, and data were analyzed by applying thematic data analysis. The research concluded that productive failure, incorporated with cooperative pair programming and self-reflection, in introductory coding and robotics education, shows promising results for developing deeper self-directed learning. Furthermore, it is suggested that solvable problems should initially be introduced, because the new coding and robotics environment already contributes to the complexity of tasks. It was secondly concluded that participants’ self-reflections deepened after engaging with unsolvable problems. Follow-up research is required to determine if the transfer of knowledge and skills to new contexts occurred.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:2227-7102
2227-7102
DOI:10.3390/educsci15111427