Educational games promote the development of students’ computational thinking: a meta-analytic review

ABSTRACT

The cultivation of computational thinking (CT) skills is a key issue in talent cultivation today. This study reported a meta-analysis of 22 empirical studies to determine the effectiveness of using educational games to improve students’ CT skills and the influence of various factors in instructional design on acquiring CT skills. The results showed that: (a) educational games can promote the improvement of students’ CT skills (Hedges’ g = 0.766, p = 0.000); (b) the overall effect is at the upper-middle level (95%CI [0.580, 0.951]); (c) The positive connection between educational games and CT skills is affected by sample size, grades level, game usage mode, and game tools. Controlling the class size to less than 50 students and the reasonable choice of game tools and usage modes are more conducive to promoting students’ CT skills. In sum, we suggested that the educational game teaching process should be rationally planned, and technology should be fully utilized to develop students’ CT skills. The above findings are of great significance to promote the improvement of students’ CT skills through educational games in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Computational thinking
• educational games
• teaching factors
• programming
• meta-analysis

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the financial supports by the National Social Science Foundation Youth Project in Pedagogy of China [grant numbers CCA190261].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation Youth Project in Pedagogy of China [grant number CCA190261].

Notes on contributors

Lihui Sun

Lihui Sun is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology, School of Education, Tianjin University. His research interests include computational thinking and programming education for children.

Zhen Guo

Zhen Guo is a master degree student in the Education Department of Tianjin University.

Linlin Hu

Linlin Hu is a master degree student in the Education Department of Tianjin University.