CTST: Development and Validation of an Sequence Ability in Computational Thinking in Early Childhood Education
Min An · 2022
The purpose of this study is to develop a set of sequence test called CTST, and to determine whether it can be used to assess Sequencing Ability in computational thinking (CT). The content of the test is adapted from Baron-Cohen's picture story. We selected 5-7-year-old students (N=1234) from seven public schools in China for the test. The difficulty and distinguishing degree of each question were tested. Combined with the result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), it is concluded that the sequence tests questions was composed of thirteen items, including three factors (amount, event and machine). Among them, four of the items that did not meet the standard were deleted. Our study also explored the differences of gender and age between 5-7-year-old students. The results show that the Sequencing Ability of girls is stronger than that of boys, and 7-year-old children may be the key period for the development of sequential ability. Generally speaking, the sequential test has good psychometric characteristics and can distinguish children with different CT sequencing Ability. We also discussed the limitations and direction of future work.