ELEMENTARY STUDENTS’ COMPUTATIONAL THINKING IN FRACTION PROBLEM-SOLVING PROFILE: IMPLICATIONS FOR 21ST-CENTURY LEARNING

Abstract

Computational thinking (CT) has become a central competency for twenty-first-century education, yet its integration into mathematics learning, particularly fractions, remains underexplored in the elementary context. This study aimed to profile elementary students’ CT in solving fraction problems using a mixed-methods design. A total of 380 students completed a multiple-choice test on fractions, with items mapped to four CT dimensions: decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithmic thinking. Descriptive statistics and categorization placed students into low, medium, and high CT levels. To complement these findings, essay responses from representative students in each category were qualitatively analyzed. The quantitative results indicated a mean CT score of 73.87, with abstraction emerging as the strongest dimension and pattern recognition as the weakest. Most students (68.16%) demonstrated medium-level CT, 19.47% were categorized as low, and only 12.37% achieved high CT. The qualitative findings highlighted distinct reasoning profiles: high-CT students displayed systematic problem decomposition, accurate algorithmic execution, abstraction, and explicit verification; medium-CT students showed procedural fluency but incomplete reasoning; and low-CT students often presented conclusions without revealing their processes. These results suggest that while elementary students possess foundational procedural skills, many lack higher-order CT processes such as verification, justification, and generalization. The study extends CT research into fraction learning and offers implications for instructional design, emphasizing the need to embed CT explicitly into mathematics education to prepare students for twenty-first-century learning demands. These findings also contribute to the global agenda of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 by highlighting the importance of integrating computational thinking into mathematics education to promote quality and equitable learning.