Measuring Computational Thinking - Adapting a Performance Test and a Self-Assessment Instrument for German-Speaking Countries

Abstract

Far-reaching technological changes are shaping our society and the ways in which we work. A key 21 st-century skill for taking advantage of those changes may be computational thinking (CT). CT aims at enabling humans to carry out more effective problem solving by utilizing concepts of computing and computer technology. For a successful integration of CT into curricula, however, it is important to take assessment into account. We review two instruments that capture CT: the Computational Thinkig Test (CTt), a performance test, and the Computational Thinking Scales (CTS), that relies on self-assessment. We have adapted both instruments from English to German. Using a sample of 202 upper-secondary students from Switzerland, we provide further evidence on the validity of both instruments. To this end, we apply item response theory and confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, we evaluate the relationship between CTt and CTS. Both instruments show good properties and may be suitable for assessing CT in German-speaking countries at the secondary level.

Computational Thinking Assessment – Towards More Vivid Interpretations

“…In order to perform the LRT, the students in the sample have to be split up into subgroups. We use the median of the CTt raw score, gender (male vs. female), age (above and below average), computer literacy (above and below average), and ability to program (yes vs. no) as split criteria (Chan et al, 2020;Guggemos et al, 2019). Computer literacy is captured by the dimension practical computer knowledge of the INCOBI-R (Richter et al, 2010), and ability to program via student self-reporting.…”

Computational Thinking bei Sachunterrichtsstudierenden im Lehr-Lern-Labor – Eine Rasch-Analyse

“…Diesem Forschungsdefizit widmete sich eine Studie im Rahmen des durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung geförderten Projektes K2teach 1 an der Freien Universität (FU) Berlin: Im ersten Schritt ging es um die Testvalidierung eines für die Sekundarstufe validierten Instruments zum ‚Informatischen Denken' (Computational Thinking) (Román González, Pérez-González & Jiménez-Fernández 2017;Guggemos, Seufert & Román-González 2019). In einem zweiten Schritt sollte mithilfe dieses Tests festgestellt werden, inwiefern die Teilnahme an einem entsprechend ausgerichteten Lehr-Lern-Labor (LLL) mit dem Titel ‚Computational Playground' (Brämer, Rehfeldt, Bauer & Köster 2020) das CT bei den Studierenden fördern kann.…”

Um benchmark de ferramentas de programação em blocos que podem ser utilizadas nas salas de aula do Ensino Médio

“…Outro conceito importante que pode ser relacionado à programac ¸ão em blocos é o pensamento computacional, caracterizado por um conjunto de habilidades para resolver problemas, projetar sistemas e entender o comportamento humano, sendo fundamentado por conceitos da Ciência da Computac ¸ão (Wing, 2006). O pensamento computacional é uma das habilidades do Século XXI, destacando sua necessidade de ser trabalhado no ensino básico, pois auxiliam os estudantes a entenderem conceitos computacionais e desenvolver outras competências, como autonomia e raciocínio lógico (Yett et al 2020;Vinayakumar et al 2018;Guggemos et al 2019 e Papadakis e Orfanakis, 2018). Nesse sentido, o ensino do pensamento computacional pode ser inserido no Ensino Médio por meio da introduc ¸ão de linguagens de programac ¸ão em blocos (Vinayakumar et al 2018).…”