Computational Thinking in Education: Where does it Fit? A systematic literary review

TL;DR

This systematic review highlights the growing but still developing state of computational thinking in education, emphasizing the need for clearer definitions, curriculum integration, and more structured teaching resources worldwide.

Contribution

It provides an overview of current research on CT in education, identifies gaps such as lack of consensus and curriculum integration, and discusses available tools and resources.

Findings

Research on CT in education is still in its infancy.

Many countries are in the process of integrating CT into curricula.

There is a wealth of tools and resources available for teaching CT.

Abstract

Computational Thinking (CT) has been described as an essential skill which everyone should learn and can therefore include in their skill set. Seymour Papert is credited as concretising Computational Thinking in 1980 but since Wing popularised the term in 2006 and brought it to the international community's attention, more and more research has been conducted on CT in education. The aim of this systematic literary review is to give educators and education researchers an overview of what work has been carried out in the domain, as well as potential gaps and opportunities that still exist. Overall it was found in this review that, although there is a lot of work currently being done around the world in many different educational contexts, the work relating to CT is still in its infancy. Along with the need to create an agreed-upon definition of CT lots of countries are still in the process of, or have not yet started, introducing CT into curriculums in all levels of education. It was also found that Computer Science/Computing, which could be the most obvious place to teach CT, has yet to become a mainstream subject in some countries, although this is improving. Of encouragement to educators is the wealth of tools and resources being developed to help teach CT as well as more and more work relating to curriculum development. For those teachers looking to incorporate CT into their schools or classes then there are bountiful options which include programming, hands-on exercises and more. The need for more detailed lesson plans and curriculum structure however, is something that could be of benefit to teachers.