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Measurement of Computational Thinking in K-12 Education: The Need for Innovative Practices

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Digital Technologies: Sustainable Innovations for Improving Teaching and Learning

Abstract

We are currently living in a period where computational thinking (CT) will influence everyone in every field of endeavor (Wing, 2006, 2008). While its definition as well as its place in school curricula are still not clear, the process of integrating CT within the K-12 school system is underway. In New Brunswick, Canada, as in other parts of the world, more and more students are being exposed to a different programming and coding activities that seek to introduce CT skills such as abstraction, decomposition, algorithmic thinking, as well as pattern recognition while solving problems in a variety of technology-rich environments. Our 3-year study of innovative practices targeting the development of CT consists of three main stages: (1) the research and development of a visual data flow programming language for development of CT skills in K-12, (2) the development of a testing method based on a selection of tasks and its application to measuring CT in middle and high school students, (3) deeper investigation into the process of CT development in students, along with the elaboration of a novel testing suite in order to better detect students’ progress for each of four components of CT skills. Our findings demonstrate, along with students’ engagement and interest in solving challenging tasks, the complexity of issues that emerge from this process as well as possible paths for future investigations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://k12cs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/K%E2%80%9312-Computer-Science-Framework.pdf.

  2. 2.

    http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/Technologies_Sequence_of_achievement.pdf.

  3. 3.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ComputingAtSchoolCACM.pdf.

  4. 4.

    Netherlands, Lithuania, Norway, Hungary, Greece and Poland.

  5. 5.

    http://www.bebras.org/?q=countries.

  6. 6.

    http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/bcc.html.

  7. 7.

    www.competi.ca.

  8. 8.

    http://www.iste.org/docs/Standards-Resources/iste-standards_students-2016_one-sheet_final.pdf.

  9. 9.

    International Society for Technology in Education.

  10. 10.

    Computer Science Teacher Association.

  11. 11.

    www.fneg.org.

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Acknowledgments

This ongoing study is being conducted with the help of the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Partnership Development Grant #890-2013-0062), New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (2016 Research Assistantship Program), and le Secrétariat aux Affaires Intergouvernementales Canadiennes du Québec (Programme de soutien à la Francophonie Canadienne).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté des Sciences de l’Éducation, Université de Moncton, Campus de Moncton, Moncton, NB, Canada

    Takam Djambong, Viktor Freiman & Mario Chiasson

  2. Agora Mobile Inc., Moncton, NB, Canada

    Simon Gauvin

  3. Anglophone East School District, MENB, Moncton, NB, Canada

    Martine Paquet

Authors
  1. Takam Djambong
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  2. Viktor Freiman
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  3. Simon Gauvin
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  4. Martine Paquet
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  5. Mario Chiasson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takam Djambong .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece

    Demetrios Sampson

  2. Learning, Design and Technology, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Dirk Ifenthaler

  3. Department of Learning Technologies, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

    J. Michael Spector

  4. Institute for Teaching & Learning Innovation (ITaLI), The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Pedro Isaías

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Djambong, T., Freiman, V., Gauvin, S., Paquet, M., Chiasson, M. (2018). Measurement of Computational Thinking in K-12 Education: The Need for Innovative Practices. In: Sampson, D., Ifenthaler, D., Spector, J., Isaías, P. (eds) Digital Technologies: Sustainable Innovations for Improving Teaching and Learning. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73417-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73417-0_12

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