Promoting computational thinking is one of the top priorities in CS education as well as in other STEM and non-STEM disciplines.Our innovative NSF-funded IC2Think project blends computational thinking with creative thinking so that students leverage their creative thinking skills to "unlock" their understanding of computational thinking. In Fall 2012, we deployed creative exercises designed to engage Epstein's creative competencies (Surrounding, Capturing, Challenging and Broadening) in introductory level CS courses targeting four different groups (CS, engineering, combined CS/physical sciences, and humanities majors). Students combined hands-on problem solving with guided analysis and reflection to connect their creative activities to CS topics such as conditionals and arrays and to real-world CS applications. Evaluation results (approximately 150 students) found that creative thinking exercise completion had a linear "dosage" effect. As students completed more exercises [0/1 -4], they increased their long-term retention [a computational thinking test], F(3, 98) = 4.76, p =.004, partial Eta 2 = .127 and course grades, F(3, 109) = 4.32, p =.006, partial Eta 2 = .106. These findings support our belief that the addition of creative thinking exercises to CSCE courses improves the learning of computational knowledge and skills.
Our research is based on an innovative approach that integrates computational thinking and creative thinking in CS1 to improve student learning performance. Referencing Epstein's Generativity Theory, we designed and deployed a suite of creative thinking exercises with linkages to concepts in computer science and computational thinking, with the premise that students can leverage their creative thinking skills to "unlock" their understanding of computational thinking. In this paper, we focus on our study on differential impacts of the exercises on different student populations. For all students there was a linear "dosage effect" where completion of each additional exercise increased retention of course content. The impacts on course grades, however, were more nuanced. CS majors had a consistent increase for each exercise, while non-majors benefited more from completing at least three exercises. It was also important for freshmen to complete all four exercises. We did find differences between women and men but cannot draw conclusions.
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