A systematic literature-based perspective towards learning and pedagogy of computational thinking

Abstract

This literature review is a complete study which presents a new perspective to view computational thinking as an enduring competency for learning and problem-solving. Computational thinking is a 21st century way of problem-solving and is also a competency that has enduring outcomes given we are in the technological era. However, there is limited research synthesis available on how Computational Thinking enhances learning and what kind of pedagogies are suitable for incorporating Computational Thinking in science and engineering classrooms. We perform a literature review of the available research related to Computation Thinking to answer the following research questions: 1) What does the literature inform us about learning or transfer through Computational Thinking in science and engineering disciplines? 2) How can Computational Thinking based learning be facilitated through pedagogy? We also examine which components of Computational thinking are difficult to learn and why so? in-order to address our first research question. Hence, the key components of this review focus on learning and pedagogy based on Computational Thinking. We develop a synthesis of suggestions and explanations to answer the proposed questions based on literature from recent research in computational thinking. As for the instructional implication, based on our initial analysis we propose that a constructionism-based problem-solving active learning environment, with information processing, scaffolding and reflection activities, could be designed to enhance learning through computational thinking.