Mapping the public understanding of computational thinking education: Insights from social Q&A platform discussions

With the growing popularity of computational thinking (CT) classes in K-12 schools, it is important to investigate public perceptions of these initiatives. Analyzing public discussions and opinions provides valuable insights that can inform future educational policies and reforms. In this paper, we collected questions and answers related to CT education on the Quora platform. Next, we applied a topic modeling approach to find out major topics in online discussions. Through analysis, we identified 6 topics in questions and 14 topics in answers. Our findings revealed that people showed great interests but also uncertainty about CT education learning outcomes. Many people asked for suggestions on CT learning tools and platforms, but they struggled to identify appropriate information to support their learning needs. Among their answers, while people held positive attitudes toward CT education, they were concerned about the difficulties their children faced in the learning process and the problem of educational equity. Moreover, since CT practices cultivate information literacy skills for children in the 21st century, the benefits of CT education might be overestimated. These findings deepen our understanding of CT education, which could inform education policies and future research directions.