This diploma thesis includes a research of an algorithmic thinking in children ages from 8 to 15. In it we first describe the levels of cognitive development an what algorithmic thinking actually is. It also describes how we use algorithmic thinking in day to day life and in which areas we can notice different levels of cognitive development. Children are divided into two age groups, based on cognitive development of a psychologist Jean Piaget. First age group includes children from ages 8 to 11, which are in the following text called younger children. The second age group includes children from 12 to 15 years old, who are called older children in the following text.
We assembled two assignment put together based on the tasks from a computer competition Bober, and they demand that children use algorithmic thinking. In the research we observe difference in algorithmic thinking of older children in comparison with younger children and the difference in choosing strategies for solving the tasks. We were interested if the older children use more different and difficult strategies.
For every case in task we predicted a strategy which are difficult strategies. The older children solved the tasks a little better and used more difficult strategies. Consequently they used the predicted strategy we selected for each case more often.
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