Computational thinking in basic education in a developing country perspective

Abstract

In a connected world, where information is the most valuable input, compulsory education in computational thinking, especially in early ages, had became an important topic for governments who aim in a economy based on technology. This brought initiatives for compulsive adoption on basic education in USA and EU, but few actions on developing countries. This article presents a systematic review of academic papers and commercial products that present the teaching of logic to young people, and that deal with the use of tangible devices, robots or specific software. From the analysis performed with the review, we define requirements for teaching. Thus, considering the factors of analysis, such as pricing and replicability, we generate a series of sub-requirements aimed at adopting a solution for public schools from developing countries. As preliminary results, an interactive robot and a set of tangible artifacts adhering to the identified requirements are presented as a proposal for the teaching of computational thinking.