# The impact of computer science education in primary schools: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in Iraq

## TL;DR

This study shows that teaching computer science and math to young students in Iraq improves their thinking skills, especially for girls.

## Contribution

The study provides new evidence that robotics and math app interventions improve computational thinking and general intelligence in primary school students.

## Key findings

- Robotics-based learning significantly improves computational thinking for girls, especially those with lower initial performance.
- Combining robotics with a math app further enhances computational thinking and general intelligence.
- The positive effects of the interventions lasted over three months for girls who received both types of education.

## Abstract

With the growing digitization of society, there is a need to enhance computational thinking as an indispensable skill for modern daily life. Consequently, computer science education for children at early ages has become increasingly important. This study conducts a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of the interventions using educational robotics as well as computer-aided mathematics drills (via a “math app”) on students’ performance in primary schools in Basra, Iraq. We provide several new empirical findings. First, the short-run impact of robotics-based learning on computational thinking is positive and statistically significant for girls, particularly poor performing girls, but not for boys. Second, the impact on computational thinking is augmented by introducing a math app, further improving computational thinking. Together, these two interventions also enhance general intelligence. Third, the positive impact was still evident more than three months after the interventions for girls who received both computer science and math education, suggesting their complementarity. Our results show that computer science education using educational robots in primary schools is effective in enhancing computational thinking and relevant skills.