Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

A framework for measuring abstraction as a sub-skill of computational thinking in block-based programming environments

  • Published:
Education and Information Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In order to teach Computational Thinking (CT) skills to young students, Block-Based Programming Environments (BBPEs) are integrated into secondary school computer science (CS) education curricula. As a CT skill, abstraction is one of the prominent skills, which is difficult to enhance and measure. Researchers developed some scales for measuring abstraction in BBPEs; however, it is still quite difficult to measure abstraction and understand students’ abstraction behaviors. The aim of this study is to suggest tasks that could help enhance students’ abstraction skills while teaching CT via block-based programming. In addition, a rubric to score the students’ abstraction behaviors in the problem solving process was created and validated. A framework with regard to the definitions of abstraction skill was adopted and the way to isolate it from other CT-skills was proposed. As a result, pattern recognition, generalizing, decomposition, focusing and eliminating were defined as indicators of abstraction in the problem solving process via BBPEs. The study also informed computer science educators about the relations between teaching CT via BBPEs, affordances of BBPEs and nature of abstraction.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ünal Çakiroğlu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

None.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Çakiroğlu, Ü., Çevik, İ. A framework for measuring abstraction as a sub-skill of computational thinking in block-based programming environments. Educ Inf Technol 27, 9455–9484 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11019-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11019-2

Keywords

Navigation