The Evidence on Teaching

Some Evidence on the Cognitive Benefits of Learning to Code

Scherer, R., Siddiq, F., & Sánchez-Scherer, B. · 2021

grade Dreviewindependentnot-applicable
Sample
Not applicable
Population
Not applicable.
Design
A Frontiers in Psychology opinion and perspective piece restating the authors' own meta-analytic series. No new data. Read at secondary depth.
Key findings
Restates the 2019 headline numbers — coding skills g = 0.75, general cognitive skills g = 0.47, creative thinking through spatial skills 0.37 to 0.73, literacy -0.02 — and concludes that the evidence supporting the cognitive benefits of learning to code is promising, while qualifying that direct transfer does not happen automatically and that the debate has not yet been settled. It is retained as the citable form of the pro-transfer position, and as an illustration of how the 2019 moderator analysis — far transfer at 0.15 against active controls — disappears when the same authors summarise their own work for a general audience.
Genetic confound
Not applicable — no new estimates.
Replication notes
An opinion piece restating existing work; nothing to replicate.
DOI / URL
10.3389/fpsyg.2021.559424

Effects

OutcomeMetricValueMeasureTimingVsHorizonClass
Restated pooled transfer estimatesHedges gcoding skills 0.75; general cognitive skills 0.47; literacy -0.02 — no new datamixednot applicableunclearnot-applicablefar-transfer