Abstract:

Computational thinking (CT) is increasingly described as a “new literacy”: a way of understanding and shaping a world where daily life is enabled, and sometimes constrained, by software-driven devices, platforms, services, and information systems. Beyond programming, CT builds transferable capabilities in problem decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithmic reasoning that support everyday decision-making, employability, and active participation in society. It also fosters transversal competences such as perseverance, learning from mistakes, creativity, flexibility, collaboration, and communication skills that are particularly important for adults navigating rapid digital transformation.

Across Europe, CT has been progressively embedded in primary and secondary education, yet adult education remains largely overlooked in curricula and standardised training pathways. This omission is especially consequential for low-skilled and vulnerable adults, for whom access to meaningful digital learning is closely linked to social inclusion, civic participation, and the right to lifelong learning reflected in the European Pillar of Social Rights.

This work presents COMPutational Seniors, an Erasmus+ funded collaboration project that addresses adult digital upskilling by introducing CT as a practical methodology for developing key competences in adult learning programmes, while making CT accessible to learners typically excluded from digital upskilling opportunities. The project aims to:
(i) integrate CT into adult education as a cross-cutting approach to competence development;
(ii) equip adult trainers with the tools, confidence, and guidance to facilitate CT-based learning; and
(iii) provide strategies, resources, examples, and curricular elements that support the inclusion of CT in adult training offerings.

The approach also strengthens contemporary digital literacy through a focus on data-processing culture and a gradual, accessible introduction to AI-related concepts.

A distinctive feature of COMPutational Seniors is its emphasis on unplugged activities, learning designs that develop CT without computers or programming languages. This lowers entry barriers for low-skilled learners and supports implementation across formal and informal learning contexts. Pedagogically, the project adopts an inclusive approach that connects computing to adults’ interests and lived experience, while explicitly addressing stereotypes and bias that can discourage participation.
COMPutational Seniors is innovative in reframing CT around cognitive processes and learning strategies and in offering a coherent integration framework that combines computational skills, applied computational practices, digital delivery, and inclusive pedagogy. It responds to the current scarcity of structured resources for preparing adult educators to teach CT and leverages CT for inclusion and empowerment in vulnerable contexts.

Key outputs include digital learning resources for adult learners, educator support materials, structured educator training, and a community-building model to share practices and sustain uptake. By embedding CT in adult education as an inclusive, transferable methodology, COMPutational Seniors contributes to future-ready lifelong learning pathways that strengthen digital competence, problem-solving capacity, and empowered citizenship.

Keywords:

Computational thinking, adult learning, coding, educational resources, teacher training.