Cultivating creativity improves middle school students’ computational thinking skills

ABSTRACT

Creativity and computational thinking (CT) have been recognized as crucial skills for the twenty-first century and have been extensively researched in recent years. However, their connections have not yet been fully understood, and there is room to expand the body of knowledge. This study examines the impact of an intervention program to increase creativity on the acquisition of CT. Our findings highlight the contribution of the intervention on learning, particularly the unique contribution to students’ acquisition of CT and computational creativity. Educators who want to promote CT should encourage creative thinking, whether through dedicated learning environments or by providing traditional thinking exercises.

KEYWORDS:

• Creativity
• intervention
• computational thinking
• problem-solving
• middle school
• online learning environment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rotem Israel-Fishelson

Rotem Israel-Fishelson is a Ph.D. candidate at Tel Aviv University’s School of Education. Her main research interest is the study of computational thinking and creativity using learning analytics methods. She has earned her M.Sc. in Media Technology (2016) from Linnaeus University (Sweden), and a B.A. in Instructional Design (2012) from Holon Institute of Technology (Israel). In addition, Rotem is a lecturer at the Faculty of Instructional Technologies at the Holon Institute of Technology.

Arnon Hershkovitz

Arnon Hershkovitz, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in Tel Aviv University’s School of Education (Israel). His research is focused on the new (or newly-shaped) skills required by learners and instructors in the cyber-learning ecosystem, specifically computational thinking, creativity, and feedback. He mostly studies these skills using a learning analytics approach. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science, an M.A. in Applied Mathematics (both from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology), and a Ph.D. in Science Education (Tel Aviv University).