Elementary student coding attitudes survey for Chinese students: scale adaptation and exploration of influencing factors of children’s coding attitudes

Abstract

This study aims to validate the existing Elementary Student Coding Attitudes Survey (ESCAS) in the Chinese context and explore the influencing factors of elementary students’ coding attitudes. ESCAS (Chinese) was created, and two survey distributions were administered, involving 1539 elementary students (Grades 3–6) from northern China. First, scale validation was performed with data from 808 students. Based on the validation results, the scale was adapted. The updated scale yielded adequate validity and reliability evidence, with 22 Likert-scale questions covering five factors (i.e., coding confidence, coding interest, utility, social influence, and perception of coders). Second, to investigate the influencing factors of coding attitudes, 731 survey responses were collected. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted, and multiple factors were examined for predicting elementary students’ coding attitudes, embracing demographic features, coding participation, social influence, and cross-disciplinary effects. Affordances of ESCAS (Chinese) for research and education were discussed. Differences across studies were compared, and implications for computational thinking and coding education were suggested.