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Computational thinking is a crucial skill for students to analyze and solve problems, and programming education serves as an important pathway to cultivate computational thinking. This study combines relevant literature and utilizes Scratch, a visual programming software, to construct a gamified teaching model for Scratch courses. A quasi-experimental research design was employed, involving two fifth-grade classes from a primary school in K city. The study employed methods such as analysis of student works, SPSS scale data analysis, and student interviews to investigate the impact of gamified teaching in Scratch courses on developing elementary students' computational thinking. The results indicate that gamified teaching in Scratch courses significantly enhances the computational thinking level of elementary students, particularly in the dimensions of critical thinking, problem-solving ability, and algorithmic thinking. Based on the research findings, it is recommended that gamified teaching in Scratch courses should involve appropriate teaching tools, incorporate game-based learning, emphasize problem-solving, encourage collaborative learning, and provide training for educators competent in programming education.
Chen et al. (Fri,) studied this question.