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Coding as Another Language (CAL) curriculum

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

A Bers-developed preschool and kindergarten coding-literacy curriculum combining unplugged and ScratchJr activities to develop coding, computational-thinking, creative-expression, and socio-emotional skills.

Components

  • Coding as Another Language (CAL) framework: coding as a literacy acquired through five consecutive stages: Coding as Another Language (CAL; Bers, 2019) is a pedagogical approach that "recognizes coding as a form of literacy—as a language like any other", bridging computer science powerful ideas with language arts via the ScratchJr block platform. It stems from three theoretical frameworks: the Curriculum Research Framework, Constructionism, and Positive Technological Development. Bers proposes "five consecutive coding stages"—Emergent, Coding and Decoding, Fluency, New Knowledge, and Purposefulness—corresponding to the accumulative consolidation of traditional literacy, with the Fluency stage marking the shift from learning to read/write/code to using these skills for learning. (Avia Ben-Ari et al. (2025))

Claims

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Key Sources

  • Avia Ben-Ari, Tess Gavrielle Levinson, Jessica Blake-West, Marina Umaschi Bers, Rinat B. Rosenberg-Kima. (2025). From avoidance to ownership: preschool teachers learn to teach code—a case study. Education Tech Research Dev. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-025-10548-0
Page metadata
Field Value
type product
id coding-as-another-language-cal-curriculum
title Coding as Another Language (CAL) curriculum
description A Bers-developed preschool and kindergarten coding-literacy curriculum combining unplugged and ScratchJr activities to develop coding, computational-thinking, creative-expression, and socio-emotional skills.
status review
product_kind curriculum
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-28
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