Impact of Teaching Approaches to Computational Thinking on High School Students: A Systematic Mapping

The role of computing in society is fundamental for the political, economic and cultural development of countries, especially in a globalized context. Computational thinking is an extremely important skill in the education of young students, since the ability of intuitively abstracting information and knowledge promotes an expansion of the learning dimension. This study aims to gather approaches used for teaching computational thinking exclusively to high school students, highlighting their performance and motivation resulting from the applications of such approaches. In order to answer our research question, a systematic mapping of the analysis of 15 studies was conducted. The use of computer programming proved to be the most used way to disseminate computational thinking. The students who participated in approaches regarding the insertion of computational thinking in the classroom showed positive impact on the development of classroom activities, as well as motivation to learn.