Development of the Coding Engagement Scale to measure elementary students’ engagement in coding

Abstract This paper presents the development and validation of the Coding Engagement Scale (CodES), a tool designed to measure elementary students' perceptions of their engagement when they participate in coding as a form of multimodal communication. The CodES assesses four distinct dimensions of engagement when coding is integrated with writing: affective, behavioural, cognitive and social. The scale was administered to a sample of elementary students ( n = 200) and demonstrated strong psychometric properties, including strong to moderate validity and reliability for each subscale. Results indicate that students' engagement in coding is significantly different based on grade levels. The CodES offers a valuable tool for researchers and educators to assess and understand students' engagement in coding and to inform the development of effective coding curricula and instructional practices. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic? Computer programming, or coding, is increasingly taught in elementary grades as a way for students to creatively communicate their ideas. There is limited knowledge about students' engagement when coding is integrated with writing to support students in multimodal communication. What this paper adds? The paper presents the development and validation of the Coding Engagement Scale (CodES). The CodES measures elementary students' perceptions of their production and participation in coding digital stories. The study found that the CodES demonstrated strong validity and reliability. Students were highly engaged when using block‐based coding to program digital stories. Sixth‐grade students were less engaged than third and fifth graders in planning and coding digital stories. Implications for policy and practice The CodES can be used to evaluate and guide future instruction that integrates coding and writing in the elementary grades. Educators can use the tool to assess students' engagement and tailor their instruction accordingly. Decision makers can use the findings to inform decisions about coding education and its integration with other subjects in elementary schools.