STEM AND COMPUTATIONAL THINKING: SOLVING REAL-LIFE PROBLEMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

• Autor(a) principal: Costa, Maria Cristina
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Martins, Sandra Gaspar, Domingos, António
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Reamec
• Texto Completo: https://periodicoscientificos.ufmt.br/ojs/index.php/reamec/article/view/16743
• topic: Educação matemática; Educação STEM; Ensino Superior; Pensamento computacional; Engenharia; Mathematics education; STEM education; Higher education; Computational thinking; Engineering; Educación matemática; Educación STEM; Educación Superior; Pensamiento computacional; Ingeniería

The promotion of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education has been increasingly advocated, not only to motivate students towards these areas, but also to prepare them for the challenges of the real world. In particular, it has been recommended to promote the learning of mathematics, often accused of contributing to the problem of a shortage of STEM graduates. On the other hand, Computational Thinking is a cognitive process that can be applied in a STEM context and requires problem-solving skills, as well as contributing to mathematics learning. This paper presents the CarRace project that was implemented in a math class of computer engineering students between the academic years 2017/18 and 2021/22, with a total of 581 students taking part. With a qualitative methodology, following an interpretive paradigm, it is concluded that the project promoted Computational Thinking in students, in a STEM education context. The results show the importance of implementing this type of approach with higher education students, particularly engineering students.