Higher-Order Thinking in Early Childhood Education and Care: Mediating young children's higher-order thinking skills. The role of mathematics, coding toys and educators

Abstract

Background: Higher-order thinking skills are those skills that allow children to not only acquire but also to process knowledge as they prepare to meet the challenges posed by the 21st century. Research to date has highlighted various examples of these skills; this thesis focuses on existing approaches to higher-order thinking, including critical thinking, problem-solving and transfer.

Research attests that considerable emphasis is placed on these skills at school level but less so in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Nonetheless, to foster young children’s ability to develop these skills, we must deepen our knowledge and understanding of higher-order thinking skills as they pertain to the ECEC stage.

The research reported herein adhered to the qualitative research tradition, specifically drawing from the conceptual framework of hermeneutics. The primary objective was to understand rather than clarify the approach to higher-order thinking skills in ECEC and to prioritise interpretation over prediction. To this end, I investigated educators’ perceptions and how different situations in ECEC may be interpreted in light of their potential to foster higher-order thinking skills. In play-based environments, such as that which is characteristic of ECEC, mathematics-based games and coding toys are investigated as two possible means of nurturing those skills. The theoretical approach is informed by Vygotsky’s theory of mediated activities, which includes mathematics, coding toys and human beings as mediators.

Aims: The aim of this thesis is to learn more about higher-order thinking skills in ECEC and to offer a new theoretical perspective that envisages a significant role for mathematics, coding toys and educators in the process of mediating higher mental functions. Accordingly, Study I investigated ECEC educators’ perceptions of critical thinking; Study II aimed to investigate educators’ perspectives on mathematics and the connection between mathematics and higher-order thinking skills; and Study III explored educators’ views on and strategies for the use of coding toys and their corresponding outputs in terms of the skills that children developed.

Methods: Studies I and II are based on the analysis of 10 semi-structured interviews with Norwegian educators from three different ECEC centres. Eight were pedagogical leaders, and two were ECEC educators working with children with additional needs. The participants had an average of 17 years of experience in ECEC (minimum 1.5; maximum 35 years). The data were analysed through thematic analysis using NVivo 12 software. Study III is a systematic literature review. The Prisma 2020 statement was followed in the data collection process. Four international databases were consulted: Eric, Scopus, Web of Science, and Academic Search Ultimate, using the search string (programming OR coding OR computational thinking OR robot*) AND (kindergarten OR preschool OR early childhood OR children) AND teaching. The study period extended from January 2010 to May 2022, and the scan yielded 2670 studies. At the end of the process, after inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 22 relevant studies were selected for inclusion.

Results: The results of Study I demonstrated agreement among the educators regarding the relevance of critical thinking and reflected on the importance of stimulating critical thinking in ECEC. Educators identified critical thinking with various dispositions and attitudes as the propensity to listen to others’ perspectives and the mental habit of being open to and respectful of diverse viewpoints. An association also emerged between supporting critical thinking and children’s identity and social development. Educators recognised their role in fostering critical thinking as crucial, and asking open-ended questions was identified as essential to working with and supporting critical thinking.

Study II’s results revealed the Norwegian educators’ perspectives on the connection between mathematics and higher-order thinking skills, showing that they perceived mathematics as problem-oriented and requiring the identification of solutions. Moreover, the educators were shown to have a positive outlook on the importance of mathematics and mathematics teaching in ECEC. While some educators reflected on their own negative personal experiences with school mathematics, they were nonetheless aware of the importance of not allowing this to influence their daily work with children in ECEC. Overall, the educators’ perspectives reflected the notion that daily life offers abundant opportunities to apply mathematics knowledge generally and problemsolving skills specifically.

The results of Study III showed the educators’ positive and constructive attitudes towards the use of coding toys and technology in the ECEC context. Of the different scaffolding methods available, dialogic scaffolding appears to be the most widely applied. The results also confirmed the teachers’ role as facilitators in the activities with coding toys, whereby they supported children in the coding process rather than simply issuing instructions. Problem-solving skills were the most widely detected and cited output in children’s development after coding activities in the selected studies. The use of coding toys supports children in developing indispensable skills that include cognitive and metacognitive skills, such as critical thinking, creative thinking, learning to learn and self-regulation, and social and emotional skills, such as empathy, self-efficacy and collaboration. In ECEC, educators assume the role of human mediators of higher mental functions and thus play a crucial role.

Conclusion: Mathematics, coding toys and educators are suggested as potential mediators of higher-order thinking skills. Mathematics can promote cognitive skills, adding on the educators’ aptitude to address the socio-emotional aspects of higher-order thinking. Meanwhile, coding toys may potentially be used as tools to foster both cognitive and socioemotional skills. Viewed within a theoretical framework informed by the Vygotsky theory of mediated activities, coding toys appear to be a material tool that may become symbolic tools that are subsequently internalised as psychological tools (coding abilities) that—in tandem with mathematics—mediate higher-order thinking skills. However, without educators’ interventions, the children may not recognise the symbolic tools and thus may not go on to acquire and internalise the psychological tools. The studies’ results underscore the need to identify different mediation techniques and highlight the potential of the pedagogical approach of dialogic scaffolding as a recommended approach to fostering children’s development.