A Model of Cultivating Computational Thinking Based on Visual Programming

Abstract

The traditional information technology course focuses on the learning of programming tools and ignores the development of students' Computational Thinking. The emergence of visual programming tools provides a new opportunity for the training of Computational Thinking. On the basis of studying the limitations of thinking training in the traditional information technology class and the advantages of visual programming in computational thinking, this paper proposes a computational thinking training model based on visual programming. The model based on project adopt the combination of teaching plan and learning plan to design teaching and cultivate Computational Thinking. Applying this model to the actual teaching process by designing a teaching case based on the visual programming tool App Inventor, the experimental results show that the Computational Thinking of students in this model is improved in formalization and modeling. Through proposing this model and verifying its validity, we can provide the feasibility and research ideas for further studies by using visual programming to cultivate students' Computational Thinking.