Enhancing Computational Thinking through a Metacognitive–Collaborative Instructional Sequence (NEXUS) in STEM Education

In this quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design study, 145 students participated to examine the effectiveness of a metacognitive–collaborative instructional sequence, NEXUS, using analog tasks to foster computational thinking (CT) in a flipped STEM classroom. A Group×Time mixed ANOVA revealed that NEXUS had greater posttest gains than the control across the three CT dimensions, with the highest gain in CT-Practices. Significant post-task differences were found in extraneous load, germane load, and metacognitive regulation (specifically metacognitive monitoring) in favor of NEXUS, while no differences emerged in intrinsic load. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that students' readiness for collaborative learning was a significant predictor of their posttest CT scores; however, it was not a significant moderator for the effect of NEXUS.