A Design and Application of Software Liberal Arts Course based on CT-CPS Model for Developing Creative Problem-Solving Ability and Learning Motivation of Non-software Majors

Abstract

As the importance of computing education for nurturing computational thinking skills is emphasized in preparation for the era of the 4th industrial revolution, computing education for non-majors is also expanding in liberal arts education at universities. In this study, a software liberal arts course based on the CT-CPS model was designed and applied to non-software majored university students, and the effect on creative problem-solving ability and learning motivation were analyzed. The CT-CPS (computational thinking-based creative problem solving) model is an instructional model devised by fusing each element of computational thinking ability to the creative problem-solving stages. Creative problem-solving ability test paper and learning motivation test paper were used as test tools. Moreover, quantitative analysis through independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test and qualitative analysis through subjective responses were conducted. As a result of the study, it was verified that the software class applied with the CT-CPS model had a statistically significant effect on the creative problem-solving ability and learning motivation of non-software majors. In particular, compared to the control group, the experimental group showed significant changes in the motivational elements among the sub-factors of creative problem-solving ability and the self-efficacy factor among the sub-factors of learning motivation. In addition, it was confirmed through qualitative analysis that the software class to which the CT-CPS model was applied helped develop the problem-solving ability and learning motivation based on computational thinking through the process of discovering and solving problems on their own in real life.