Relationship between computational thinking and a measure of intelligence as a general problem-solving ability

Abstract

Computational thinking – the ability to solve problems using concepts from computer science – has been widely discussed in the computer science education field. However, the relationship of computational thinking to intelligence – seen as the general ability to understand and solve complex problems – is contestable and has not been extensively explored. The present study addressed the question of how computational thinking is related to intelligence. To find an answer to this question, 71 pre-service teacher students completed a survey with 20 Bebras tasks as a measure of computational thinking and a non-verbal intelligence test (TONI-3) to assess their general problem-solving ability. The large and significant correlation of r(70) = .53, p