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Computational Thinking Frameworks used in Computational Thinking Assessment in Higher Education. A Systematized Literature Review.

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

18

DOI

10.18260/1-2--36824

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/36824

Download Count

556

Paper Authors

biography

Laura Melissa Cruz Castro Purdue University at West Lafayette (PPI)

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Laura Melissa Cruz Castro is a M.S student in the Department of Electrical and Computer engineering under the advice of Dr. Mirelle Boutin and a Ph.D. student in the Department of Engineering Education under the guidance of Dr. Kerrie Douglas, both at Purdue University. She holds a B.S. in Statistics from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a M.S. in Business Intelligence from Universität de Barcelona. Her research interests include educational data mining, ethical considerations regarding the use of data in education, assessment in engineering education, and the statistics curriculum for engineering. She is a member of Eta Kappa Nu (HKN), Purdue.

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biography

Huma Shoaib Purdue University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-4735-1989

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Huma Shoaib is an engineering education graduate student at Purdue working with The Weldon School Biomedical Engineering. Her research interests are; identifying computational thinking patterns in engineering students and underrepresentation of women in engineering.

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biography

Kerrie A Douglas Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-2693-5272

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Dr. Douglas is an Assistant Professor in the Purdue School of Engineering Education. Her research is focused on improving methods of assessment in large learning environments to foster high-quality learning opportunities. Additionally, she studies techniques to validate findings from machine-generated educational data.

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Abstract

This research paper presents a literature review of Computational Thinking (CT) frameworks and assessment practices. CT is a 21st century way of solving a problem. It refers specifically to the methods that are effective when trying to solve a problem with a machine or other computational tools. In the past few years, CT researchers and educationists' significant movement started to look for a formal definition and composition of CT in K-12 and higher education. From this effort, over 20 different definitions and frameworks for CT have emerged. Although the availability of literature on CT has been increasing over the last decade, there is limited research synthesis available on how to assess CT better. Besides, it is known that in higher education designing assessments for CT is challenging and one of the primary reasons is that the precise meaning of CT is still unknown. This research paper, therefore, presents a systematized literature review on CT frameworks and assessment practice. We search three different databases and review 19 journal articles that address the assessment of CT in higher education to answer the following two research questions: 1) What does the literature inform us about practices and types of assessments used to evaluate CT in higher education? 2) Which frameworks of CT are present in literature to support CT assessment in higher education? The critical components of this review focus on frameworks and assessment practices based on CT. We develop a synthesis of suggestions and explanations to answer the proposed questions based on literature from recent research in CT. Based on our initial synthesis, we found a disconnect between theory and practice. Specifically, neither the ideas within CT frameworks nor those from CT assessment research are being utilized by the other. Therefore, there is a dire need to connect the two for practical implementation and further research in CT in higher education.

Cruz Castro, L. M., & Shoaib, H., & Douglas, K. A. (2021, July), Computational Thinking Frameworks used in Computational Thinking Assessment in Higher Education. A Systematized Literature Review. Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--36824

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