Enhancing Basic Education Students’ Computational Thinking: A Quasi-Experimental Comparison of Two Innovative Instructional Strategies

Despite the growing relevance of computational thinking (CT), limited empirical evidence exists on how pedagogical approaches shape CT among students in Basic Education contexts. This study compares the relative influence of computer-based simulation strategy (CBSS) and the six thinking hats strategy (STHS) in enhancing CT, while the role of gender and school location was also examined. This quasi-experimental study involved 157 participants aged 12+ years, assigned to four intact groups/classes (two CBSS and two STHS) representing the urban and rural locations in both interventions. Data were collected at the pre-test and post-test stages using the computational thinking scale. The instrument was validated by three relevant experts and pilot-tested with 39 students, yielding a reliability value of 0.73 through Cronbach's Alpha reliability formula. Descriptive analysis was applied to answer the research questions, while the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypothesis at the .05 level of significance. Findings revealed a significant main effect of instructional strategy on CT (F(1,148)=140.327, p<.05), with a large effect size (η²=0.49) in favour of CBSS. Whereas Gender had no significant effect on students’ CT scores in either group, school location exerted a significant effect in favour of students in urban areas. These results show that CBSS is more effective than STHS at improving basic education students’ computational thinking.