# Development of Computational Thinking in High School Students: A Case Study in Chile

**Authors:** Felipe González, Claudia López, Carlos Castro  
**arXiv:** [1910.06080](https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.06080)  
**Date:** 2019-10-04  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/1910.06080v1/

## Key points

- Study focuses on development of computational thinking in high school students in Chile
- Most efforts to incorporate computational thinking have targeted early years of schooling using visual tools like Scratch and Alice
- Limited research on development of computational thinking in later years of school without prior formal preparation
- Study aims to provide evidence of effectiveness of teaching programming in C++ to develop computational thinking skills among high school students
- Test administered before and after voluntary C++ programming workshop
- Results show significant improvement in computational thinking at the end of the workshop
- Students with lower initial computational thinking tend to drop out more frequently
- Tenth-grade students obtained lower final scores compared to eleventh and twelfth-grade students
- Teaching a low-level programming language like C++ can be beneficial for developing computational thinking skills among high school students
- Presence of entry barriers associated with learning such languages highlighted, further research and interventions may be needed

## Summary

This study, conducted by Felipe González, Claudia López, and Carlos Castro, focuses on the development of computational thinking in high school students in Chile. While most efforts to incorporate computational thinking in K-12 education have targeted students in their early years of schooling using visual tools like Scratch and Alice, there has been limited research on the development of computational thinking in students in their later years of school who may not have had prior formal preparation. The study aims to provide evidence of the effectiveness of teaching programming in C++ (a low-level language) to develop computational thinking skills among high school students. To assess this, a test was administered before and after a voluntary C++ programming workshop. The results indicate a significant improvement in computational thinking at the end of the workshop. However, it was observed that students with lower levels of initial computational thinking tended to drop out of the workshop more frequently. Additionally, tenth-grade students obtained lower final scores compared to eleventh and twelfth-grade students. These findings suggest that teaching a low-level programming language like C++ can be beneficial for developing computational thinking skills among high school students. However, it also highlights the presence of entry barriers associated with learning such languages. Further research and interventions may be needed to address these barriers and ensure equal access to computational thinking education for all high school students.