THE IMPACT OF WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES ON PARENTS' CONCERNS ABOUT COMPUTER PROGRAMMING EDUCATION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Abstract

Parents play an influential role in the lives of children studying in elementary school, and their attitudes toward education have a considerable influence on children’s attitudes. In the context of computer programming education, parents’ ignorance could affect their children’s education and attitudes towards education adversely. A promising way to support parents is through informal workshops with their children, in which the former are exposed to the subjects and skills that the children will be learning. This study examined the impact of different types of workshop activities on parents’ concerns regarding various aspects of their children’s programming education. Three types of workshops were organized, each characterized by a particular activity; including a wooden robot with coding blocks, a robotics toy with visual programming language, and visual language. Data were collected from parents before and after their participation in these workshops. The results from the analysis of the data revealed that the impact of the three activities on the parents varied, with all three activities and workshops having a positive impact on the attitudes and confidence levels of parents in supporting their children at home with technology-related education in addition to enhancing their understanding of programming education.