The Effect of Computer-Free Coding Education for Special Education Students on Problem-Solving Skills

During recent years coding education has been an important issue in many countries. Coding education has been an important topic for these countries. One of the reasons why coding education is being discussed by educators and other partners of the schools is that it is seen as a key competence for students, and workers at developing problem-solving skills. Coding as an academic skill is seen as a part of logical reasoning. Coding is also accepted as one of the skills called “21st-century skills” required from individuals. Special education students are in a disadvantaged situation as in other learning platforms. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the place of coding education in developing problem-solving skills of special education students. Within the scope of the study, computer-free coding applications were carried out with the participation of 34 students having the mild intellectual disabilities who are continuing their education in a special education vocational school aged between 14 and 18. An observation form was used to evaluate problem-solving skills. There was a significant difference [t(24)=-7.19, p<.001]  between the pre and post-course skills of the students. While the average score of the students’ problem-solving skills was 10.68 in pre-course, in the post-course this score increased to 13.36. The analysis of the findings showed that the students' skill scores in using problem-solving steps have increased in all these steps.