• The Journal of Korean Association of Computer Education
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.11-23
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• 2014

Developing computational thinking ability is crucial for those living in the 21st century. However, the current computational education system cannot satisfy this need. Current computational education tends to be limited to the teaching of the use of application programs or the teaching of the programming language. This is why the primary puzzle-based learning program was developed. This program promotes the development of the learner's computational thinking ability and understanding of the principles of the computer science as opposed to the fragmented, uniform programing education. In order to prove the effectiveness of this newly developed program, a 35-hour study was conducted to 41 students from grade 3 to 6 classrooms in Jeju Province. It was proved that this program brings positive changes in creativie problem-solving ability and problem-solving abilities in computer science. This paper is to provide the ground for the development of an educational program and to prove the effectiveness of thereof, and finally introduce the Primary Puzzle-Based Learning Program as the alternative computational education.