Which educational vision of Computational Thinking? A still open research perspective

Abstract

Computational thinking has recently been introduced by the Educational Reform
of La Buona Scuola, scheduled to begin in primary schools (diffusion has
already occurred in most European countries and others in the developed
world). The addition of this new competence is considered a literacy essential
which every child has to learn. It is understood not so much as a technical skill,
but as logical thinking across all the disciplines. The problems to be addressed
are: What is the definition of computational thinking? Why has computational
thinking now assumed a central role in education from primary school
through university? Which educational vision of computational thinking for
children in their early years of development emerges and is shared by the scientific community of Computer Science? What are the cognitive and educational implications for computational thinking? This work aims to investigate the state of art on computational thinking in education for primary and lower secondary education, examining its spread in Europe and the recent academic literature, with the aim of identifying the critical issues in the research field and the priorities for implementation and future investigation.