Towards the Development of Computational Thinking and Mathematical Logic through Scratch

Abstract

Currently the need to provide quality education to future generations has led to the development of new teaching methodologies, within this fact the tools provided by information technologies have been positioned as the future of learning, in this sense, the learning to program is no longer considered a selective skill in the field of computing, being today a necessity for any student who wants to be competent in this globalized and dynamic world. Within this context, the present research aims to analyze to what extent the use of the Scratch programming language allows the development of computational thinking skills and mathematical logic. The methodology consisted of the application of programming fundamentals through Scratch 3.0 to an experimental group composed of 25 students who were randomly selected from a population of 100 students, the data collection was carried out through a test of logical reasoning standardized by Acevedo and Oliva and a test of levels of computational thinking standardized by González. According to the results, a significant difference is postulated in the performance of the students in both tests, having a more considerable improvement in the criteria: Loops, Control of Variables (CV), Probability (PB) and Combinatorial Operations (CB). Therefore, it is concluded by highlighting the importance of teaching basic concepts of Computer Science such as computational thinking and mathematical logic, since it contributes to the internalization of concepts when developing algorithms in problem-solving.