DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02820

Summary
The paper focuses on studying engineering students’ computational thinking (CT) competences. The authors state that there is no formal definition of CT, so they provide theoretical framework of the set of CT abilities, including creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork. The research is conducted with the 1138 first-year engineering discipline students of the University of the Basque Country. The participants fill the questionnaire composed of Likert-scale questions designed to measure algorithmic thinking, cooperativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity. The performed factorial and confirmatory analysis demonstrate that the factorial structure is composed of algorithmic thinking, problem-solving, cooperative thinking. Thus, the proposed scale should not be used to evaluate critical thinking and creativity.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
The authors emphasize the importance of computational thinking which consists of skills in communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and computing. By developing computational thinking skills, students should be able to formulate a problem in such way that computational agents would be able to process them, logically organize data and identify solutions. Although there are complex problems which do not require computations, application of computational thinking in problem-solving process enables to formulate a problem based on reasoned assumptions, find solution and communicate effectively. These skills are particularly important for engineering students who usually solve complex problems in a group with application of computational tools and have to make conclusions based on the obtained results.

Point of Strength
The authors suggest that computational thinking is of high importance to solve complex system nowadays when computers are used in many steps of the problem-solving process.