The developmental characteristics of computational thinking and its relationship with technical skills: taking the department of engineering as an example

ABSTRACT

Previous research suggests that there should be a correlation between computational thinking and traditional cognitive and motor skills. At present, academia either considers cognitive skills a part of computational thinking, or investigates the correlation between computational thinking and cognitive skills. Current research on computational thinking focuses on the design of teaching models to improve computational thinking ability and on measures for evaluating computational thinking. The association of computational thinking with motor skills is rarely discussed. From the perspective of embodied cognition theory, an association must exist, but its mechanisms have not been studied. Therefore, this study explores the effect of the teaching model of creative problem solving (CPS) on computational thinking and its internal correlation with technical skills. It was found that CPS can not only improve the computational thinking ability of students majoring in engineering, but also promote their corresponding motor skills. However, the students’ previous academic background had a certain influence on their learning outcomes. Students at universities of technology experienced a greater improvement in their computational thinking and motor skills than students at general universities. There is a certain correlation between computational thinking and motor skills, and the interaction between them should be properly considered in future teaching and curriculum design so as to improve students’ learning effectiveness.

KEYWORDS:

• Computational thinking
• motor skill
• embodied cognition
• creative problem solving (CPS)
• blended learning

Acknowledgements

Min Jou, Pei-Chi Chen, Jingying Wang, contributed equally to this study and share the first authorships.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology [grants Numbers MOST 108-2511-H-003 -035 -MY3 and 106-2511-S-003 -036 -MY3]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 72074031].

Notes on contributors

Min Jou

Dr Min Jou received his PhD in 1994 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. He is a professor in the Department of Industrial Education at National Taiwan Normal University. He received the Distinguished Professor award in 2013. His research interests include technological education, application of ICT technology in education, and mechatronics. He is a member of BERA, ASEE, and SEDA.

Pei-Chi Chen

Pei-Chi Chen, is a graduate student in the Department of Industrial Education at Taiwan Normal University. His research interests include Instructional Strategies and Inductrial Education.

Jingying Wang

Dr Jingying Wang, was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Industrial Education at Taiwan Normal University. She is currently an professor at Beijing Normal University. Her research interests include Instructional Strategies and Designs, and Science Education.