Examination of the Computer Programming Self-Efficacy’s Prediction towards the Computational Thinking Skills of the Gifted and Talented Students

Leyla Ayverdi,Yunus Emre Avcu

doi:10.12973/ijem.6.2.259

Abstract

<p style="text-align:justify">The study's goal was to examine the correlation between the computer programming self-efficacy and computational thinking skills of gifted and talented students. The capacity of the computer programming self-efficacy of gifted and talented students to predict their computational thinking skills were also examined. The relational screening model has been implemented in the research. The participants of the study were composed of 106 secondary school gifted and talented students studying the Individual Ability Recognition Program (IAR) at the Science and Art Center in the city center. Typical case sampling was applied for the student identification of the participants, 46 are female and 60 are male. Gifted and talented students' computational thinking skills were assessed using the "Computational Thinking Skills Scale” and the computer programming self-efficacy was measured by using the "Computer Programming Self-Efficacy Scale". Data were analysed by Pearson correlation analysis and simple linear regression analysis in statistical software SPSS 22. Research results found that there was a positive and high correlation between the computer programming self-efficacy and computational thinking skills. The gifted and talented students' computer programming self-efficacy demonstrated 31.5% of the total variance in computational thinking skills. This finding supports the claim which is present in the literature that self-efficacy in computer programming is the affective aspect of computational thinking skills. To predict computational thinking skills, it may be recommended to build multiple models for cognitive and affective skills of gifted and talented students.</p>

Highlights

Among digital natives, there is a gifted and talented group that has been in interaction with the technological world from the moment they were born and can use technology and quickly in the processes of acquiring and generating information (Koroglu, 2015). Clark (2015) identifies individuals as gifted and talented who have created a performance in the talent fields of general mental ability, special academic ability, leadership, creative and productive thinking, visual and performing arts, or are capable of processing and creating performance by using one or more of those talent fields
The findings obtained in our research indicates that 31.5 % of computational thinking skills were explained by programming self-efficacy
Even though Roman-Gonzalez et al (2018b)'s work does not concentrate on the relationship between computer programming self-efficacy and computational thinking skills, it corresponds with the findings derived in the current study in terms of showing the relations between variables linked to computer programming self-efficacy and computational thinking skills

Summary

Introduction

There is a gifted and talented group that has been in interaction with the technological world from the moment they were born and can use technology and quickly in the processes of acquiring and generating information (Koroglu, 2015). Clark (2015) identifies individuals as gifted and talented who have created a performance in the talent fields of general mental ability, special academic ability, leadership, creative and productive thinking, visual and performing arts, or are capable of processing and creating performance by using one or more of those talent fields. It can be stated that the educational interventions to be applied to gifted and talented students who need special education because of their differences and special needs should be carried out considering all these characteristics of individuals. It is an obligation rather than a responsibility to provide educational services to the gifted and talented students they need and to improve their talents (Citil & Ozdemir-Kilic, 2019; Sak, 2014). By developing technology, gifted and talented students are expected to contribute to their countries' digital economy strategies. It is thought that the contribution of gifted and talented students to their countries in the field of technology will be realized by discovering and developing special talents in

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