The Impact Of STEAM-Based Unplugged Activities In Influencing Early Childhood Computational Thinking

Abstract

This study investigates how STEAM-based unplugged activities can foster computational thinking skills among early childhood learners at Angkasa Lanud Adisucipto Yogyakarta Kindergarten. Children aged 5–6 years from group B were selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation, and validated using triangulation techniques to ensure credibility. To maintain methodological consistency, the study operationalizes computational thinking through three empirically observable indicators: pattern recognition, sequencing, and problem solving & debugging. The findings reveal that these indicators emerge across three primary forms of unplugged activities. First, Lego construction tasks engage children in identifying structural patterns, arranging blocks in sequential steps, and correcting placement errors. Second, art-based activities—such as creating simple origami windmills require children to follow systematic folding sequences while refining mistakes to achieve the expected form. Third, angklung musical activities enable children to recognize rhythmic patterns, respond to instructional cues in sequence, and adjust their actions when timing errors occur. These results demonstrate that computational thinking can be meaningfully embedded in early childhood education through developmentally appropriate, non-digital STEAM activities. The study contributes theoretically by clarifying a more grounded set of indicators aligned with early childhood learning processes, and practically by offering evidence that unplugged approaches effectively strengthen foundational problem-solving and procedural reasoning skills.