Identifying patterns in computational thinking problem solving in early primary education

Abstract

This paper presents a study on computational thinking problem solving where first grade primary students engage in five groups of computational thinking tasks. The tasks are related to curriculum topics of language, science and mathematics and are implemented in form of a web application. Throughout the five tasks groups, students complete tasks covering the computation concepts of sequence, algorithms, recognition and removal of unnecessary steps, object properties and problem tasks. The focus of the data analysis presented in this paper is on identifying the computational thinking tasks across all five task groups where students were least successful and identifying patterns of task completion done by the students. For these least successful tasks, the correct and the incorrect completion patterns were examined. The results indicate that CT tool scaffolds serve as a mechanism through which students explore problems via trial and error and come to their own creative solutions through problem exploration.