ABSTRACT

In modern society technology is widely used and, with the digitization of many services, this is an upward trend. Therefore, computational thinking (CT) is an increasingly important concept; an aspect that is being reflected on educational policies and the extracurricular offer of different countries. This study aims to look at the efficacy of private after-school extracurricular robotics activities, controlling fluid intelligence (Gf), a determining aspect in solving novel problems. A sample of 112 fifth-grade Spanish students was chosen, who completed two tests, the computational thinking test (CTt) (Román-González, 2016) and the KBIT fluid intelligence subtest (Kaufman, 1990). The results showed a great influence of Gf on the prediction of CT and significant differences between the students that had not attended after-school extracurricular classes and those that had attended for two or more years. Thus, this study substantiates the effectiveness of private extracurricular classes in promoting CT in the long term. Given the importance of CT nowadays, legislators should consider to include CT in compulsory education because private extracurricular classes could promote inequity.

摘要

在现代社会，技术被广泛应用，并且随着许多服务的数字化，这是一个上升的趋势。因此，计算思维（CT）是一个越来越重要的概念；不同国家的教育政策和课外活动都反映了这一点。本研究旨在探讨私人课后课外机器人活动的效果，控制流体智力（Gf），解决新问题的决定性方面。选择了 112 名五年级西班牙学生作为样本，他们完成了两项测试：计算思维测试 (CTt)（Román-González，2016）和 KBIT 流体智力分测试（Kaufman，1990）。结果显示，Gf对CT的预测影响很大，未参加课外课外班的学生与参加两年及以上课外班的学生之间存在显着差异。因此，本研究证实了私人课外课程在长期促进 CT 方面的有效性。鉴于当今 CT 的重要性，立法者应考虑将 CT 纳入义务教育，因为私人课外课程可能会加剧不平等。