Investigation of Higher Education Students' Computational Thinking Skill Levels

Abstract

Computational thinking skill is a skill that has its origins in ancient times but has gained importance today. The competences provided to individuals by computational thinking skills are also of great importance for the education system. Therefore, it is important for students to acquire and develop these skills in order to adapt to the requirements of the modern world. Based on this, in this study, the level of information processing thinking skills of higher education students was examined and the level of this skill was investigated in line with different variables. 'Computational Thinking' scale was used as a data collection tool in the study. Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient of the scale. 96 was calculated as. Demographic characteristics such as gender, department, class and education level were taken into consideration. Quantitative research method was used in the study. The research was conducted with 298 participants studying in higher education. In the analysis of the data, independent t-test and ANOVA analyses were applied to determine the score differences between the groups. As a result of the study, higher education students were found to have high levels of computational thinking skills. Gender was found to be effective on computational thinking skills. As the level of education increased, it was determined that computational thinking skills increased. It was seen that the education given in different departments had an effect on computational thinking skills. Finally, it was found that there were significant changes in students' computational thinking skills as their grade level increased.