Evaluating the impact of Work It Out Wombats! on children’s computational thinking and related skills in the United States

Computational thinking (CT) and related skills are important for children’s development and future success. CT can promote problem-solving and social-emotional learning (e.g. task persistence and frustration tolerance). Widely accessible educational media present opportunities for fostering the development of these skills in young children, especially those in historically underserved communities. Researchers conducted an 8-week randomized controlled trial with 458 children ages 4–5 from low-income households in the United States. This study explored whether providing access to educational videos and games for 1.5 hours per week supported children’s CT, problem-solving, and social-emotional learning. Researchers randomly assigned participants to one of two conditions and gave them internet-enabled tablets. Researchers instructed the treatment group to engage with videos, games, and activities from the CT-focused PBS KIDS series Work It Out Wombats! and told those in the control group to use any educational resources for the same period of time. Participants in the treatment condition scored significantly higher on a measure of sequencing skills at post-test, controlling for other pre-test assessments and demographics. We found no other significant group differences on post-test computational thinking, problem-solving, or social-emotional learning skills. We discuss the use of digital media to promote CT and implications for future work.