Students’ Perspectives on Game-Based Learning and Computational Thinking

Abstract

—Currently, in the world of education at various levels, efforts are continuously being made to implement computational thinking skills in learning. Constructivism from computational thinking can guide the suitable learning media, which is becoming a trend in education, i.e., game-based learning. The dominance of game-based learning supports computational thinking well, especially at the junior high school level. Some literature may have discussed computational thinking and game-based learning together or separately. However, this does not rule out the possibility that there is still a lack of information for education providers to implement learning well. Therefore, a systematic review conducted in this study will discuss students’ perspectives on game-based learning in supporting computational thinking at the junior high school level. The search using the PRISMA approach was sourced from four reliable databases, namely Sage, Scopus, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley. Keywords used for searches such as “computational thinking”, “game”, “game-based learning”, “junior high school”, “middle school”, and “secondary school”. Thus, the final result of the study found three main themes related to strengths, challenges, and ideal ways of learning in a game-based learning environment in support of computational thinking.