Improving the computer thinking and self-efficacy of learners in elementary software education is an educational task for fostering future core competencies. Toward this end, the study recruited 26 and 27 sixth-grade students from 00 Elementary School in Incheon as part of experimental and comparative classes, respectively, in 2022, to elucidate the impact of software education on computational thinking and programming. The study conducted a preliminary examination of computational thinking skills to confirm that the two groups were homogeneous. We applied the 17th sessions of physical computing software education using Makey Makey and software education using Entry to both classes, respectively. After software education, we analyzed the test results by performing a post-test of self-efficacy for computational thinking and programming. The educational program, which was developed as a result of the test, exerted a significant effect on the computational thinking ability and self-efficacy of students in the upper grades of elementary school.
Therefore, the software education program developed in this study using Makey Makey not only improves the computational thinking skills but also the self-efficacy of students in programming, thereby improving voluntary motivation for learning in programming.