Susceptibility to learn computational thinking against STEM attitudes and aptitudes

An investigation was conducted over 2 years with undergraduate students enrolled in computer science, software engineering and information systems. The aim was to decide whether aptitudes (measured as performance) and preferences (measured using a variation of MAS) for (STEM vs humanities) subjects during secondary school had any impact on the students’ performance in computational thinking components. The investigation was measured against performance in more “traditional” subjects, linked to programming. Our results indicate that computational thinking approaches are more readily taught to varied skilled students, as compared to the core elements of computer science, where it seems that higher aptitudes in STEM link directly. This suggests that alongside standard subjects, higher education students might benefit from having a dedicated module of “computational thinking” at the beginning of their courses, as that would “even the playfield” for the remainder of their degree course. In addition to experimental data and analysis, we present the design of a short CT course to students used to pilot our idea. There is also some statistical evidence to suggest that students who completed the pilot had higher performance at mathematics-based computing courses.