Advancing students’ computational thinking skills through educational robotics: A study on age and gender relevant differences
- Research areas:
- Year:
- 2015
- Type of Publication:
- Article
- Keywords:
- Computational thinking, Educational robotics, Secondary education, Skill development
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Authors:
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- Journal:
- International Journal of Robotics and Autonomous Systems
- Abstract:
- This work investigates the development of students’ computational thinking (CT) skills in the context
of educational robotics (ER) learning activity. The study employs an appropriate CT model for operationalising
and exploring students’ CT skills development in two different age groups (15 and 18 years old) and across
gender. 164 students of different education levels (Junior high: 89; High vocational: 75) engaged in ER learning
activities (2 hours per week, 11 weeks totally) and their CT skills were evaluated at different phases during the
activity, using different modality (written and oral) assessment tools. The results suggest that: (a) students reach
eventually the same level of CT skills development independent of their age and gender, (b) CT skills in most
cases need time to fully develop (students’ scores improve significantly toward the end of the activity), (c) age
and gender relevant differences appear when analyzing students’ score in the various specific dimensions of the
CT skills model, (d) the modality of the skill assessment instrument may have an impact on students’
performance, (e) girls appear in many situations to need more training time to reach the same skill level compared
to boys.
