Computational thinking should be understood as problem-solving thinking, beyond its link to programming. Therefore, it is necessary to address this thought’s structure through its cognitive processes to obtain an operational definition that allows this thought’s pedagogy to be adequately addressed in the classroom, regardless its development source. In this article, five processes inherent to this thought are determined, identifying only those that are always used. These processes are operatively defined from a psychological and a pedagogical perspective. The processes are abstraction, generalization, evaluation, creation of algorithms and decomposition of the problem. The first four processes present an inherent relation to problem-solving that can be verified, while, the last one, decomposition, can be considered not fundamental in problem solving and, therefore, linked to computational thinking. The performed analysis and categorization prove that decomposition is the key and central process of computational thinking. Therefore, computational thinking teaching must always be approached from the decomposition of problems or tasks that allow the simplification of the rest of the processes involved. This should involve different resources such as programming, playing games, problem-solving, or the creation of projects.

Self-regulation strategies of learning are key to improving the learning process, and to teach students to use them, teachers must master them. To improve self-regulation of pre-service teachers, continuous self-assessments of their learning is included with Moodle survey resource. To measure the improvement of self-regulation, a pre-post study was conducted with two scales: ARATEX-R, for texts, and the inventory of self-regulation strategies, SRSI-SR, for study habits. Results showed a significant impact on self-regulation, specifically on planning, connecting ideas, subsequent assessment of difficulties and prior self-motivation. Continuous self-assessment has been key to improving reflection on the achievement of objectives on a weekly basis, and thus monitoring and improving learning planning throughout the course. This means that the Moodle survey resource can be very useful for self-assessment of learning in preservice teacher education, as well as being an easy to implement resource.