Examining the Effects of Scaffolded Programming Activities on the Development of Preservice Teachers' Computational Thinking Skills: A Focus on Algorithmic Thinking

• In Event: Technology, Robotics, and Computational Thinking for Learning

Abstract

In this article, the author concurs with existing research showing that teacher education departments do not currently have the knowledge to promote computational thinking in their programs. The question, then, becomes how to include the teaching of computational thinking in teacher education courses. The present study directly addresses this issue through the use of scaffolded programming activities with robots, as one method for teaching computational thinking to pre-service teachers, in an educational technology course. The results indicate statistically significant findings on pre-service teachers’ computational thinking with an emphasis mostly on the development of algorithmic thinking skills. The author discusses implications and future research directions regarding the teaching of a wider spectrum of computational thinking skills and not only algorithmic thinking.

Author

• Charoula M. Angeli, University of Cyprus