Developing the computational thinking process in Physics courses, an empirical study for the learning of the rigid body concept in engineering students

In the present Research-to-practice Full-paper, the learning, reasoning, and problem-solving processes, in engineering students, have been analyzed from different approaches, one of them is the computational thinking process, where most of the activities must be performed as a computer does and the reasoning is developed with the well-oriented activities realized by them. In many of the engineering career programs, the Physics courses are fundamental, and because of the diversity in contexts, they have not been seen as a subject where students can develop the computational thinking process. Present work describes an empirical study based on the learning of the rigid body concept in physics, with the use of spreadsheets as an electronic tool for promoting the learning with the programming of all the dynamical system, describing the evolution, generating, and analyzing graphics, and explaining the physical phenomena with a high comprehension and transfer of knowledge. At the end, students identified where the concept can be applied in their professional context with the use of a simulation. The learning sequence was implemented in three sessions of 1.5 hours each one, two diagnostic tests were applied, one for identifying the previous knowledge and use of electronic spreadsheets, the second one used as a pretest and post-test, it was focused on the main concepts of the rigid body system, like forces, kinematics, and circular movement. The sequence was implemented with N = 77, students. Session 1, started with the introduction of electronic spreadsheets for their use in science and engineering, some examples in Physics and Mathematics were described with their respect feedbacking for students. For session two, the rigid body concept was described with the support of electronic spreadsheets, all the dynamics, equations, plotting of the results and the relationships of all variables were described; for reinforcing the concept learned, students were asked to solve two more similar exercises with the use of the spreadsheets as homework, and finally they were asked to record, in groups of three students, a video with the solution of the problem assigned. In the video, they must present the problem description, equations and dynamics involved in the solutions and explaining all the programming steps needed to perform the solution in an electronic spreadsheet with its graphical representation and interpretation of the variables, and a description of implications in the changing values of the variables in the mathematical model. At the end of the sequence, in session three, a virtual simulation related to their professional context was used for the reinforcement of all the concepts learned. For analyzing the impact in their learning process, the Normalized Conceptual Gain was used in the pre-test and post-test, results showed a g = 0.85, which represents a high learning and normalized conceptual gain. Finally, the results showed that the computational thinking process can be developed by students, as they must program equations, analyze data, understand it, and identify graphically the variables involved, linking the learning of a physical concept with a computational tool that let them understand in a more clear, specific, and ordered thinking.