The Importance of Creativity in Developing Computational Thinking in Primary Education

Applications for developing Computational Thinking (CT) are currently in the spotlight. This is notable since recently published theories and preliminary research conducted suggests that forms of creative thinking and acting are at least as important as the mental skill to apply concepts, methods, problem solving techniques, and the ability for logic reasoning for developing CT. Our research provides additional indications of the importance of creativity in CT development. We collected and analysed both quantitative and qualitative data to enlighten the importance of creativity and the feeling of having been creative when designing and solving tasks in developing CT. Our findings indicate that there is a clear interaction between being creative, acting creatively and using creative skills in developing CT. Subject to relevant influence of creativity, a development of sub-characteristics of CT could be demonstrated, elucidating that learning CT goes beyond a mere focus on concepts derived from computer science.