Tracing Problem-Solving and Computational Thinking Processes in Elementary School Programming Activities
Michael Tscholl, Ying Xie, Thomas J. Smith · Proceedings. · 2024
In elementary schools, Computational Thinking is often taught within problembased learning pedagogies, and learners leverage their generic problem-solving competencies to complete CT tasks.How grade 4 children solve a CT problem is explored in this paper.We conducted time-series analyses to examine which problem-solving steps and CT processes are used as the task progresses, and how problem-solving steps and CT processes interrelate.Findings indicate that while some steps are given appropriate emphasis, others, including problem formulation, are not given enough prominence, overall stymying successful task execution.We also find that abstractions are made only after testing, and that when solutions fail, students tend to fall back on trial-and-error strategies.The findings suggest that students should be taught more explicitly CT problem-solving to prevent use of ineffectual strategies.More broadly, our analyses provide a dynamic view of learning CT enabling the development of operational frameworks for CT teaching.