What influences computational thinking? A theoretical and empirical study based on the influence of learning engagement on computational thinking in higher education

Abstract

As an important part of core competencies in the 21^st century, computational thinking has received a lot of attention from all over the world. In the field of higher education, cultivating the ability of computational thinking has become an important goal of teaching. Previous research has shown that students' learning engagement is related to partial dimensions within computational thinking. However, there was a lack of research on the overall relationship between learning engagement and computational thinking. Therefore, this study aims at constructing an overall relationship model between learning engagement and computational thinking to examine the influence of three dimensions of learning engagement on the five dimensions of computational thinking. The participants were 341 freshmen from central China. The results show that compared with behavioral engagement, both emotional engagement and cognitive engagement had a stronger predictive power for computational thinking. In addition, the learning environment played a significant role in the relationship between learning engagement and computational thinking. On the whole, when compared with traditional multimedia classrooms, the relationship between learning engagement and computational thinking in smart classrooms was closer. A theoretical and empirical study of the relationship between learning engagement and computational thinking presents researchers and education practitioners with a method to improve students' computational thinking by building a learning environment and designing pedagogy.