Developing College students’ computational thinking multidimensional test based on Life Story situations

Abstract

At present, research on computational thinking in universities is gaining interest, and more attention is being paid to the cultivation and teaching of computational thinking. However, there is a lack of computational thinking assessment tools for college students, which makes it difficult to understand the current status and development of their computational thinking. In this study, computational thinking is regarded as the ability to solve practical problems. By analyzing the relevant literature, we identified five dimensions of computational thinking – decomposition, generalization, abstraction, algorithm and evaluation – and described their operational definitions. Referring to the Bebras and the problem situations in Google computational thinking education, we set up a life-based situation that college students are familiar with. Based on the life story situation, we developed a multidimensional assessment for college students’ computational thinking. This assessment tool contains 14 items, all of which are multiple-choice questions, and the structure and quality of the tool are verified by multidimensional item response theory. The results show that the assessment tool has good internal validity and can discriminate different disciplines of college students. The college students’ computational thinking test developed in this study can be used as an effective tool to assess college students’ computational thinking.

Computational Thinking Skills in 21st Century Mathematics Learning

“…The importance of computational thinking in the development of 21st century skills has been emphasized, with patterns of its integration determined from a disciplinary perspective (Lee & Malyn-Smith, 2019). The ability to solve practical problems is considered a key aspect of computational thinking, emphasizing its relevance in realworld contexts (Kang et al, 2022).…”

“…Moreover, computational thinking has been regarded as the ability to solve practical problems, and its integration into Grade 10 mathematics learning has been perceived as a vital tool to develop problem-solving skills in mathematics classrooms (Kang et al, 2022;Ramaila & Shilenge, 2023). The reciprocal relationship between computational thinking and mathematics learning has been highlighted, emphasizing the use of computation to enrich mathematics learning and applying mathematics contexts to enrich computational learning (English, 2018).…”

What influences computational thinking? A theoretical and empirical study based on the influence of learning engagement on computational thinking in higher education

“…The definition and framework of computational thinking were still subject to debate among researchers, but some researchers believed that it was related to problem‐solving. Furthermore, computational thinking was widely regarded as a universal problem‐solving approach that was not restricted by an individual's particular domain knowledge or programming ability [21].…”