Developing Computational Thinking through Mathematics: An Evaluative Scientific Mapping

Abstract

Computational thinking (CT) has been accepted and embraced by educators and researchers alike, but many questions remain surrounding what concepts and topics have been used in CT, what tools have been used to help teach CT, and the current range of research on CT. In this paper, we address those questions and the state of professional development (PD) used to train teachers and preservice teachers in CT. Using a scientometrics analysis to map data from the scientific literature based on different kinds of published research, we found that most publications were published in education-related sources and that CT in relation to mathematics teaching was mostly about teaching computing skills and teaching computer programming using practice and algorithmic thinking in engineering and in STEM, mostly at the higher education level. Additionally, our results revealed that Scratch was the dominant tool used to teach programming skills at all school levels and in teacher education. Research on PD illustrated a main focus centred on improving computational thinking via programming skills in rural and urban areas of teaching. Lastly, we conclude that high-impact research outputs support the notion of computational thinking as a problem-solving process.