Abstract
In this chapter, we investigate the creative nature of computational thinking (CT) in STEM through use of the PISA competency model of creative thinking (CrT) (OECD. PISA 2021 Creative thinking framework (third draft). https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA-2021-creative-thinking-framework.pdf. Accessed 27 Mar 2021, 2019) and Selby’s and Woollard’s model of CT (Selby C, Woollard J. Computational thinking: The developing definition. http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/356481, 2013) to unpack student meaning-making as they participate in a design-based task. We explore selected video excerpts in which primary school students undertook unplugged programming (UP) activities which we analyse, using micro-ethno-graphic methods, to investigate specific instances in which CrT and CT overlap and the way in which creativity can drive student agency within a STEM context. We unpack the specific aspects of CrT that are afforded by the hands-on nature of UP as a particular manifestation of CT. Our findings show, as framed by the 3C multiple moments pedagogical model, that CT in the form of de-composition, abstraction, logical thinking and algorithmic thinking provides opportunities for students to be creative as they generate diverse and unique ideas, and evaluate these ideas to improve them. This research contributes to ongoing efforts to support teachers to identify and encourage the development of students’ creative-computational thinking in STEM as they foster children’s resilience and their use of twenty-first century learning skills.
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This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [Science of Learning Research Centre. SR120300015].
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Aranda, G., Ferguson, J.P. (2022). The Creative in Computational Thinking. In: Murcia, K.J., Campbell, C., Joubert, M.M., Wilson, S. (eds) Children’s Creative Inquiry in STEM. Sociocultural Explorations of Science Education, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94724-8_18
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