DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING THROUGH PROGRAMMING INSTRUCTION: COGNITIVE FOUNDATIONS AND DIDACTIC STRATEGIES

Abstract

The article examines the development of critical thinking through programming education in the context of the 
digital transformation of education. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing need to prepare students 
who are able not only to apply algorithms and programming tools but also to analyze information, evaluate alternative 
problem-solving approaches, and make well-reasoned decisions. The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of 
cognitively oriented instructional strategies on the development of school students' critical thinking. The research 
employed a pedagogical experiment, classroom observation, questionnaires, and a comparative analysis of the results 
obtained before and after the implementation of the proposed methodology. The theoretical framework is based on 
studies of cognitive load theory, computational thinking, and critical thinking, which explain the organization of 
students' cognitive activity in programming education. The study involved 20 eighth-grade students. The instructional 
process incorporated Parsons problems, Socratic questioning, pair programming, code refactoring, and the use of 
generative artificial intelligence as a cognitive scaffolding tool. The findings demonstrated a significant improvement in 
students' ability to analyze code, identify logical errors, justify their solutions, and solve programming tasks 
independently, with performance gains ranging from 24% to 27%. The obtained results confirm the effectiveness of the 
proposed instructional strategies in fostering critical thinking and indicate the positive impact of cognitively oriented 
programming instruction on the development of metacognitive skills. The study confirms that programming provides an 
effective environment for developing both critical and metacognitive thinking. The findings highlight the need to move 
beyond teaching programming syntax toward fostering a culture of mindful programming based on analysis, reflection, 
evidence-based reasoning, and independent decision-making.