Primary school teachers' attitudes toward visual block programming: differences by ssex and age
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.42387Keywords:
teacher attitudes, elementary school teachers, programming, computational thinking, gender differences, age differencesAbstract
In the current era of artificial intelligence, the teaching of programming has become more relevant in the elementary school curriculum, especially through Visual Block Programming as a tool for developing Computational Thinking. This study analyses the attitudes of elementary school teachers towards Visual Block Programming and examines possible differences according to sex and age. The research adopted a non-experimental cross-sectional design with a quantitative approach. A scale with three dimensions (Self-efficacy, Relevance, and Interest) was applied, and its structure was confirmed through a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The sample consisted of 492 elementary school teachers in Spain. Descriptive analyses and statistical tests such as Student's t-test, one-way ANOVA and Pearson's correlation were used, using IBM SPSS and Jamovi for data processing. When parametric assumptions were not met, non-parametric methods were applied. The results indicate that elementary school teachers show a moderate overall attitude towards Visual Block Programming (3.18), with high perceived relevance (3.65) and interest (3.33), but low self-efficacy (2.54). Male teachers have significantly higher self-efficacy than their female counterparts, although both sexs share the perception of the educational value of Visual Block Programming. In addition, younger teachers (22-30 years) show greater confidence in their ability to teach it, while age does not influence relevance and interest. These findings underline the need to implement differentiated training programmes that reinforce self-efficacy in older teachers and reduce the sex gap, promoting a more inclusive and effective integration of Visual Block Programming in elementary education.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Ana Gonzalez Cervera, Olga Martín-Carrasquilla, Yolanda González-Arechavala
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