Development and validation of the computational thinking concepts and skills test

Markeya S. Peteranetz, Patrick M. Morrow, Leen Kiat Soh

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Calls for standardized and validated measures of computational thinking have been made repeatedly in recent years. Still, few such tests have been created and even fewer have undergone rigorous psychometric evaluation and been made available to researchers. The purpose of this study is to report our work in developing and validating a test of computational thinking concepts and skills and to compare different scoring methods for the test. This computational thinking exam is intended to be used in computing education research as a common measure of computational thinking so that the research community will be able to make more meaningful comparisons across samples and studies. The Computational Thinking Concepts and Skills Test (CTCAST) was administered to students in several courses, evaluated and revised, and then administered to another group of students. Part of the revision included changing half of the items to a multiple-select format. The test scores using the three scoring methods were compared to each other and to scores on a different test of core computer science knowledge. Results indicate the CTCAST and the test of core computer science knowledge measure similar, but not identical, aspects of students' knowledge and skills, and that itemlevel statistics vary according to the scoring method that is used. Recommendations for using and scoring the test are presented.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationSIGCSE 2020 - Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
Pages926-932
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781450367936
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 26 2020
Event51st ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, SIGCSE 2020 - Portland, United States
Duration: Mar 11 2020Mar 14 2020

Publication series

NameSIGCSE 2020 - Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

Conference

Conference51st ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, SIGCSE 2020
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPortland
Period3/11/203/14/20

Keywords

  • Assessment
  • Computational thinking
  • Multiple-select items
  • Test development

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science(all)
  • Education

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Development and validation of the computational thinking concepts and skills test'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this