An Investigation of the Relationship between Computational Thinking and Scientific Process Skills in Pre-schoolers: A Correlational Study

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between computational thinking and science process skills in preschool students. The participants were 153 children aged 5 to 6 from three different preschools in Türkiye. Data were collected using a demographic information form, the TECHCHECK-K scale to assess computational thinking, and the Science Process Skills Achievement Test. The data were analyzed using RStudio. The results indicated that preschool students demonstrated moderate levels of computational thinking and relatively high levels of science process skills. Correlation analyses revealed a moderate and statistically significant relationship between computational thinking and science process skills. Furthermore, structural equation modeling demonstrated that computational thinking was positively and significantly associated with science process skills, explaining 18% of the variance. These findings provide preliminary evidence of an association between computational thinking and science process skills in preschool children, while highlighting the need for further longitudinal and experimental research.