Students' Computational Thinking Skill through Cooperative Learning Based on Hands-on, Inquiry-based, and Student-centric Learning Approaches

Abstract

Of late, computational thinking (CT) has received a great deal of attention from scholars and educators, given its immense potential in nurturing students' problem-solving skills, which are the type of skills highly needed in today's technology-driven era. For example, in Malaysia, a number of efforts have been pursued to develop strong computational thinking among school students through the implementation of learning activities that nurture such a skill in most of the school subjects. However, previous studies have shown that teachers have a low understanding and misconception about the concept of computational thinking, which could derail such efforts. Furthermore, the lack of studies focusing on motivating students to actively participate in the learning process is further compounding such a predicament. Premised on this context, this study was carried out to examine the impact of cooperative learning on the development of CT skill among a group of 25 Year-3 students, aged 9, which was carried out based on three learning approaches, namely student-centric, hands-on, and inquiry-based approaches. Through such learning, which took place at one private school located in Selangor, Malaysia, the students learned four learning concepts related to a topic of a science subject. In this study, the researcher played the role of a teacher by teaching these students the learning concepts using a lesson plan designed based on the three learning approaches. The methodology used to collect data was based on a class observation and an interview with the science teacher. The analysis of the qualitative data revealed that students were highly engaged and participative in the learning process and were able to learn the scientific concepts of the subject matter with greater efficacy, which was indicative of their improved CT skill. As such, these findings underscore the imperative of developing and nurturing computational thinking among students, with which students would be able to solve complex problems more effectively