Integrating computational thinking in post covid-19 education delivery in Ghana

Abstract

Computational thinking has been widely embraced by countries across the world as part of an ever-evolving educational system. Nonetheless, the Ghanaian educational system is yet to fully actualize this concept. Computational thinking is often associated with problem solving, creativity and the development of critical thinking skills in the absence or presence of technology. When technology is applied, computational thinking principles such as abstraction, modeling and visualization enable students and teachers to solve complex problems in both STEM and non-STEM disciplines. Integrating computational thinking into the Ghanaian pre-tertiary education curricula through modeling, scheme activation, load-reducing, and guided discovery is critical in the post-COVID-19 pandemic education delivery as students exposed to such skills will be able to compete with their peers abroad in both scientific and non-scientific fields. It is in light of the above that this paper utilizes exploratory qualitative methodological approaches involving analysis of secondary data, in addition to primary data collected through interviews conducted with selected pre-tertiary public school ICT teachers to explore the extent to which computational thinking is being incorporated into the educational curricular at the pre-tertiary level in Ghana, and the challenges confronting implementation. 32 public school teachers in the Greater Accra and Western regions constituted the participants. The findings revealed a slow pace of implementation entangled with challenges which include the lack of foundational ICT for students admitted to senior high schools, a dearth of ICT teachers, absence of training, and inadequate/non-existent equipment at public high schools. The paper concludes by highlighting how computational thinking skills if fully integrated into the Ghanaian educational curriculum at the pre-tertiary level, can impact students’ thinking and positively lead to a faster pace of growth and innovation.