TY - JOUR
T1 - Levels of problem-solving competency identified through Bebras Computing Challenge
AU - Kwon, Kyungbin
AU - Cheon, Jongpil
AU - Moon, Hyunchang
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - As computational thinking (CT) gains more attention in K-16 education, problem-solving has been more emphasized as a core competency that can be found across various domains. To develop an evaluation framework that reveals students’ problem-solving competency, this study examined solutions for the Bebras Computing Challenge which requires students to utilize problem-solving skills in a CT domain. A total of 246 solutions of three Bebras tasks were analyzed based on a qualitative content analysis method and four levels of solutions were identified. The solution levels revealed how students (1) failed to understand a problem (No solution), (2) solved the problem but failed to identify the pattern (Premature level), (3) identified principles embedded in the problem but failed to apply them to devise an automized solution (Intermediate level), and (4) identified principles and solved the problem by applying them (Advanced level). This study presented solution levels across Bebras tasks and discussed how task difficulty affected student solutions differently. Implications for teaching problem-solving skills were discussed.
AB - As computational thinking (CT) gains more attention in K-16 education, problem-solving has been more emphasized as a core competency that can be found across various domains. To develop an evaluation framework that reveals students’ problem-solving competency, this study examined solutions for the Bebras Computing Challenge which requires students to utilize problem-solving skills in a CT domain. A total of 246 solutions of three Bebras tasks were analyzed based on a qualitative content analysis method and four levels of solutions were identified. The solution levels revealed how students (1) failed to understand a problem (No solution), (2) solved the problem but failed to identify the pattern (Premature level), (3) identified principles embedded in the problem but failed to apply them to devise an automized solution (Intermediate level), and (4) identified principles and solved the problem by applying them (Advanced level). This study presented solution levels across Bebras tasks and discussed how task difficulty affected student solutions differently. Implications for teaching problem-solving skills were discussed.
KW - Bebras Computing Challenge
KW - CT assessment
KW - Computational thinking
KW - Problem-solving
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105165142&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10639-021-10553-9
DO - 10.1007/s10639-021-10553-9
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85105165142
SN - 1360-2357
VL - 26
SP - 5477
EP - 5498
JO - Education and Information Technologies
JF - Education and Information Technologies
IS - 5
ER -