Injila Rasul, Danielle Crabtree, Francisco Castro, Allison Poh, Sai Satish Gattupalli, Krishna Chaitanya Rao
Kathala, Ivon Arroyo
irasul@umass.edu, dcrabtree@umass.edu, fcastro@cs.umass.edu, apoh@umass.edu, sgattupalli@umass.edu,
kkathala@umass.edu, ivon@cs.umass.edu
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
Computational Thinking (CT) is a vital and multi-dimensional skill for all learners.
Understanding the development of CT’s different dimensions is essential to refining educational
experiences that best support it. In this study, we investigated the development of three aspects
of CT: Self-Perception of Computational Ability, Modeling and Simulation, and Computational
Problem Solving, as students engaged in collaborative game design and programming practices
within a game-design platform, WearableLearning (WL). Through their engagement with WL
and its accompanying curriculum, we show preliminary evidence for developing two CT
dimensions, Modeling and Simulation and Computational Problem Solving, and discuss the
challenge of developing Self-Perception of Computational Ability. We found an increase in
students’ ability to understand machines and their processes and an improved capacity to think
algorithmically as they constructed models, debugged, and iterated through their designs.
Student Self-Perceptions of Computational Ability, however, did not change significantly.
