Computational thinking scale: the predictive role of metacognition in the context of higher order thinking skills

Abstract

This study aims to determine the predictive role of cognition in computational thinking. In this context, the research has two problem situations. The first one is the development of a computational thinking scale for prospective teachers. The second is to determine the predictive role of metacognition in computational thinking with this scale. In Study-1, the computational thinking scale was developed with (N= 365) participants. In Study-2 (N=306), the role of metacognition in computational thinking was explained with structural equation modeling. These findings show that, the computational thinking scale consisting of 28 items in Study-1 explained 48% of the total variance with a single factor structure and the internal consistency coefficient was found to be .985. In Study-2, the role of metacognition in computational thinking was tested with structural equation modeling. Accordingly, the planning, debugging and procedural knowledge sub-dimensions of metacognition explained 47% of the variance of computational thinking.