The fairy performance assessment: measuring computational thinking in middle school

  • Authors:

  • Linda Werner;Jill Denner;Shannon Campe;Damon Chizuru Kawamoto

  • Affiliations:

  • University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA;Education, Training, Research Associates, Scotts Valley, CA, USA;Education, Training, Research Associates, Scotts Valley, CA, USA;Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

Computational thinking (CT) has been described as an essential capacity to prepare students for computer science, as well as to be productive members of society. But efforts to engage K-12 students in CT are hampered by a lack of definition and assessment tools. In this paper, we describe the first results of a newly created performance assessment tool for measuring CT in middle school. We briefly describe the context for the performance assessment (game-programming courses), the aspects of CT that are measured, the results, and the factors that are associated with performance. We see the development of assessment tools as a critical step in efforts to bring CT to K-12, and to strengthen the use of game programming in middle school. We discuss problems and implications of our results.