Examination of Computational Thinking Capacity-Building Through Peer Collaborations in STEM-Integrated Robotics Program
Yi‐Chun Hong · Proceedings of the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting · 2019
Computational thinking (CT) has been prioritized nationwide as an essential skill for digital citizens in the 21st century.K--12 educators thus have embarked on developing students' CT through the STEM curriculum.CT is a generic problem--solving process that enables people to solve problems using the computational tools, techniques, and approaches.Numerous educators propose that collaborations engage learners in richer CT processes.Building on this notion, there is a critical need to understand how learners' interactions influence different practices of CT.We selected three pairs of students from the implementation of an integrated--STEM robotics curriculum in 5th grade classrooms and used the case study approach by analyzing video observations to examine the development of different CT capacities through peer collaborations.Purpose The STEM workforce is central to a country's national economy and global competitiveness (Freeman, Marginson, & Tytler, 2015;Grover & Pea, 2013; NRC, 2007).However, the existing educational system falls short to develop sufficient workforce to meet the expected number of qualified professionals in the STEM fields.Given this gap, governmental agencies at different levels have been striving to maximize the investment in STEM education to advance educational research and to enhance teaching and learning practices in order to increase the pool of next generation of STEM talents (Montgomery & Fernández--Cárdenas, 2018).There is an increasing recognition of the need in the STEM field to train students with computational thinking (CT) skills.Several reasons account for the significance of CT in the STEM education.First, a growing number of emerging industries in the 21st century, such as bioinformatics, neuroinformatics, and data sciences, demand the professionals to integrate both STEM knowledge and computational thinking skills to solve real world complex problems (Weintrop et al., 2016).Second, CT involving several cognitive abilities (e.g., making predictions and recognizing patterns) is essential to enhance students' understandings of STEM knowledge and reinforces their STEM--related expertise to solve problems (NRC, 2011;Wilensky, Brady, & Horn, 2014).Third, Grover and Pea (2018) argued that "Mathematics and science classrooms provide perhaps the most intuitive and easy non--CS contexts for CT learning and use."(p.33).Taken together, possessing CT abilities is one of the core elements to the development of students' STEM capacities (Augustine 2005;Weintrop et al., 2016).A number of scholars have attempted to conceptualize the notion of CT.Many people unsurprisingly interpret CT as programming, the technical skills taught in the computer science program.However, CT includes a broad range of cognitive capacities beyond programming skills (Shute, Sun, & Asbell--Clarke, 2017;Wing, 2011).It has been regarded as a problem--solving process and is a way of thinking that utilizes the tools and techniques from computer science (Aho, 2012;Wing, 2006).Furthermore, ISTE and CSTA (2011) recognized that being able to collaborate and communicate with others is one of the essential predispositions to the