Abstract
Computational thinking (CT) is being recognized as a critical component of student success in the digital era. Many contend that integrating CT into core curricula is the surest method for providing all students with access to CT. However, the CT community lacks an agreed-upon conceptualization of CT that would facilitate this integration, and little effort has been made to critically analyze and synthesize research on CT/content integration (CTCI). Conflicting CT conceptualizations and little understanding of evidence-based strategies for CTCI could result in significant barriers to increasing students’ access to CT. To address these concerns, we analyzed 80 studies on CT education, focusing on both the CT conceptualizations guiding current CT education research and evidence-based strategies for CTCI. Our review highlights the code-centric nature of CT education and reveals significant gaps in our understanding of CTCI and CT professional development for teachers. Based on these findings, we propose an approach to operationalizing CT that promotes students’ participation in CT, present promising methods for infusing content with CT, and discuss future directions for CT education research.
Highlights
The landscape of work is fundamentally shifting as the evergrowing knowledge economy increasingly requires a coupling of human cognitive and computing power
To present our results regarding the nature of computational thinking (CT) conceptualizations guiding contemporary CT education research, we first describe salient features of CT conceptualizations emerging from our analysis and discuss how those conceptualizations are operationalized in the studies reviewed
We identify alignment between their paper and the following categories of the Computational Thinking Conception Design Map (CTCDM): (a) Conception: they mention multiple CT conceptualizations in their introduction, a code-centric conception of CT is indicated by their statement that, “This paper aims at discussing the use of key CT concepts as proposed within Brennan and Resnick’s framework (Brennan & Resnick, 2012) with young primary school learners, with a special emphasis on the computational concepts dimension” (p. 1)
Summary
The landscape of work is fundamentally shifting as the evergrowing knowledge economy increasingly requires a coupling of human cognitive and computing power. It has been widely reported that there is a shortage of students prepared to enter such a technologically focused workforce (Montoya, 2017). In recognition of this challenge, computational thinking (CT) has been identified as a fundamental component of readying students for this rapidly changing world of work (Grover & Pea, 2018; Heintz et al, 2016; The Royal Society, 2012). Seymour Papert (1980) first described using computer programming to teach disciplinary content in his seminal work Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. Papert (1980) asserted that computers should be tools for creation and stimulators of metacognition, rather than “a means of putting children through their paces” (p. 19)
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