The Effect of a Pembelajaran Mendalam (Mindful, Meaningful, and Joyful Learning) Coding and Artificial Intelligence Module on Elementary School Students' Computational Thinking

Starting in the 2025/2026 academic year, Coding and Artificial Intelligence (Koding dan Kecerdasan Artifisial, KKA) was introduced as an elective subject from grade five in Indonesian elementary schools. This quasi-experimental study compared a KKA module based on Pembelajaran Mendalam (mindful, meaningful, and joyful learning)—a pedagogical approach distinct from machine-learning-based deep learning—with application-only instruction. Sixty-five fifth-grade students from two schools in South Tangerang participated (experimental n = 33; control n = 32). Across six 70-minute meetings, the module integrated unplugged activities, Scratch, a simple image-classification tool, and reflection. Computational thinking tests, a learning-experience questionnaire, and observations supplied the data. Posttest mean scores were 76.88 (experimental) and 65.40 (control), t(63) = 4.73, p < .001, d = 1.17; corresponding N-gains were 0.58 and 0.37. Descriptively, the largest indicator gain in the experimental group was decomposition (0.62), while the smallest was abstraction (0.47). In this two-school sample, the module was associated with greater computational-thinking gains than application-only instruction; the design does not establish which component produced the difference.