Mapping computational thinking mindsets between educational levels with cognitive network science

A significant aspect of computational thinking is as a way of reasoning about the world in terms of data. This mindset channels number-crunching toward an ambition to discover knowledge through logic, models and simulations. Here we show how computational cognitive science can be used to reconstruct and analyse the structure of computational thinking mindsets (forma mentis in Latin) through complex networks. As a case study, we investigate cognitive networks tied to key concepts of computational thinking provided by (i) 159 high school students enrolled in a science curriculum and (ii) 59 researchers in complex systems and simulations. Researchers’ reconstructed knowledge highlighted a positive mindset about scientific modelling, semantically framing data and simulations as ways of discovering nature. Students correctly identified different aspects of logic reasoning but perceived ‘computation’ as a distressing, anxiety-eliciting task, framed with math jargon and lacking links to real-world discovery. Students’ mindsets around ‘data’, ‘model’ and ‘simulations’ critically revealed no awareness of numerical modelling as a way for understanding the world. Our findings provide evidence of a crippled computational thinking mindset in students, who acquire mathematical skills that are not channelled toward real-world discovery through coding. This unlinked knowledge ends up being perceived as distressing number-crunching expertise with no relevant outcome. The virtuous mindset of researchers reported here indicates that computational thinking can be restored by training students specifically in coding, modelling and simulations in relation to discovering nature. Our approach opens innovative ways for quantifying computational thinking and enhancing its development through mindset reconstruction.