Collaboration and engagement based coding training to enhance children’s computational thinking self-efficacy

Abstract

Although there are different definitions for computational thinking in the literature, it is possible to define it mainly as problem solving, designing and interpreting new systems by thinking like a computer. According to Wing (2006), computational thinking is a way of designing a system and understanding human behaviors by focusing on the basic concepts of the computer sciences. The recent focus on computational thinking as a key 21 st century skill for all students has led to a number of curriculum initiatives to embed it in K-12 classrooms and to introduce computing ideas to students early during their schooling years. The present study aims to explore the effects of a short, intensive coding and robotics training on the computational thinking skill self-efficacy of middle school students. 24 fifth graders participated in the study and data were collected by means of the Computational Thinking Self-efficacy scale (CTS) and one open-ended question. Analyses of the pre, post and delayed tests revealed significant differences between the pre and post-tests.