How Can Pre-Service Teachers Develop Computational Thinking in an Educational Context?

• Laís L. C. Baptista State University of Feira de Santana http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5531-0637
• Roberto A. Bittencourt State University of Feira de Santana https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8854-8956

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/educomp_estendido.2022.19404

Abstract

The use of computers in education has always been in perspective. However, when it comes to the use of digital technologies in education, it is evident that there is a lack of exploring Computer Science (CS) in its breadth, as well as a deficit in planning for teacher development to mediate the space where the exploration of this science occurs. Thus, although the use of computers in education is common, in most cases its application often happens as activities that were not designed for students to develop skills that have become fundamental in the 21st century, skills such as Computational Thinking (CT). At the same time, CT is the thought process involved in formulating problems and their solutions as they can be represented and effectively performed by an information processing agent. Various countries such as Germany, Argentina, Canada, United States, England and Brazil as well are introducing CT and other subjects based on CS in K-12 education. However, for this to happen effectively, one needs to pay attention to the development of teachers able to work with CT in schools. This development starts from adding CS concepts in teacher development, followed by introducing them to pedagogical practices that create a computational environment in the classroom regardless of their fields of knowledge, since computer science is transversal to other sciences. In this context, this work proposes a discussion about interventions carried out during the pre-server teacher development, focusing on the impact that the approaches cause in pre-service teachers' perceptions and attitudes towards computing and CT. The proposal that we present in this study involves gradually working with CS and CT through the following steps: I) Theoretical discussions about CS and the application of CT in everyday life; II) Unplugged computing activities; III) Plugged computing activities; IV) Reading and discussion of experience reports that have carried out interdisciplinary activities in computing for promoting CT in K-12 education. Furthermore, the idea is that during all these steps of the intervention, pre-service teachers are encouraged to think about interdisciplinary practices and demonstrate in their discussions the perceptions of applicability and understanding of these approaches. The proposal has already been applied to a voluntary group of undergraduate students from different fields of knowledge. The results were obtained through computing activities carried out through the steps proposed for the intervention and through an attitude survey that was applied before and after the intervention. Conclusion from the pilot course suggests that pre-service teachers have difficulty understanding the concepts of CS and CT, as well as limitations in their reflections that lack criticality and autonomy. However, although the results were not what we expected, we must introduce CT during pre-service teacher development and improve existing configurations for this type of intervention to promote a development that enables teachers to work with computing in class.

Keywords: Computational thinking, Pre-service teachers, attitudes towards computing

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