Fostering Computational Thinking skills in middle school students using CT@Home mobile application

Computational thinking skills are recognised as the necessary 21st century competency among learners of variouslevels. There is an increase in awareness on the potential benefits o f i ntroducing c omputational t hinking (CT) s kills in theschool level curriculum. The existing solutions like block-based activities, AR-VR apps, game-based learning solutions requiremore relatable and authentic learning contexts. The present study conducted with 49 middle school students (7th and 8th)traces how an educational application called CT@Home can be used to foster logical thinking and CT skills by providingauthentic learning experiences through a relevant context which is meaningful to the learner. We investigated the effectivenessof the application around three specific c onstructs: learning gain, usability, and self-perception. The results suggest that applications like CT@Home which can provide context-based learning, helps in building a positive perception towards learning CT skills among middle school students. Finally, we also discuss some of the important challenges that students faced while interacting with the CT@Home application. Index Terms—Computational Thinking, Logical thinking, Usability, Learning Gain, Context-based learning, Authentic learning