Critical Thinking and Computational Thinking in the Learning of Socio Scientific Issues Related to Genetics

FUSSERO, GIMENA BETINA; VIRRARRUEL PARMA, MALENA; OCCELLI, MARICEL; GARCIA ROMANO, LETICIA

Capadocia

Congreso; 15th Conference of the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA); 2023

15th Conference of the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA)

Critical thinking and computational thinking are extremely important skills in science teachingand learning. In this paper, we analysed the traits of critical thinking and computational thinkingin the programming of short stories in Scratch with reference to cases of application of geneticengineering (GE) in a secondary school in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. The study wasconducted using a design-based research approach. As for critical thinking, the projects doneby the students included mainly arguments with evidence, data, and aspects that allowed forthe assessment of information, as well as for the development of counterarguments. The main computational thinking skills developed were parallelism and synchronization. Thus, it can beconcluded that a context influenced by programming is suitable for making decisions aboutwhat to make visible, what information to represent and how to do it. In this way, it becomes aninstance that fosters critical thinking and computational thinking traits.