Abstract—Computational thinking (CT) is one of the skills or
processes needed in computer science. However, these skills can
also be integrated into any field in education. The objective of
this literature review is to study the benefits and challenges of
computational thinking (CT) in education. This literature
review is analyses 55 references obtained from various sources,
based on predefined keywords. The references were then
analysed using NVivo software to code them according to
several main points. Based on the literature review, there are
many benefits of computational thinking in education,
including increasing critical and analytical thinking among
students, cultivating CT skills in STEM education among
students, improving pedagogy and curriculum, and fostering
CT skills through game-based learning (GBL). However, there
are some challenges facing the implementation of
computational thinking in the field of education. These include
teachers’ understanding of computational CT, lack of
confidence, lack of the skills required to implement CT, and
students’ acceptance of CT. In order to overcome these
challenges, there are two important aspects to consider:
ensuring teachers’ level of knowledge and level of readiness
about CT is high. It is hoped that this literature review will be
able to provide educators with an understanding of the extent to
which CT is able to shape education to be more creative and
meaningful.
Index Terms—Computational thinking, benefits, education,
CT.
The authors are with the Faculty of Education Universiti Kebangsaan,
Malaysia (e-mail: dessyro90@gmail.com, fariza.khalid@ukm.edu.my,
ielawaniela@gmail.com, yoges750306@gmail.com,
mnalina1977@gmail.com).
Cite: Noor Desiro Saidin, Fariza Khalid, Rohanilah Martin, Yogeswary Kuppusamy, and Nalini A/P Munusamy, "Benefits and Challenges of Applying Computational Thinking in Education," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 248-254, 2021.
Copyright © 2021 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).