Effect of Learning Style on Non-Programmed Computational Thinking Activities

Abstract

As information explosion and algorithms are proliferated in the digital age, computational thinking becomes more critical. Nevertheless, most activities that promote computational thinking are always presented in a programming or block language, which tends to horrify students. This study aimed to develop a series of non-programmed, computational-thinking training activities to demonstrate if they improve students’ computational thinking skills without writing code. In the meantime, it is checked whether students’ learning styles influence their outcomes. After an investigation consisting of a 16 h gamified learning session, we observed that students’ computational thinking skills improved overall. Furthermore, the initial learning style of the students influenced the effect of different dimensions of computational thinking in the learning procedures.

Keywords

• computational thinking
• learning style
• game-based learning
• digital learning