Improving Computational Thinking With Arduino Activities

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: Contemporary Topics in Computer Science Education Research

Abstract

Computational thinking (CT) is the ability to think like a computer scientist when dealing with a problem. It is now widely accepted that CT is at the core of all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. This study introduces a set of four Arduino (a microcontroller) activities for secondary school students to learn essential CT skills by creating projects with real-life applications and examines whether it helped students improve CT skills. The activities were implemented as a unit among 15 high school students during a summer program. The pre post test comparison indicates that the curriculum significantly improved students' CT skills. This paper discusses how these activities are designed to improve CT skills and reports our empirical findings.

Authors

• Soroush Khaleghi, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Yue Yin, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Roxana Hadad, Northeastern Illinois University