Developing pre-service teachers’ computational thinking: a systematic literature review

Recently, computational thinking (CT) has gained importance in education systems worldwide, specifically the CT training of pre-service teachers. This study conducted a systematic literature analysis (2011–2021) of 38 works on pre-service teachers’ CT based on Web of Science, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases. The results were as follows: (1) Six training methods were found, (2) CT training effectively improved pre-service teachers’ CT, (3) A positive relationship was found between pre-service teachers’ CT ability and the five factors affecting the ability, (4) A mode of training to improve CT ability of pre-service teachers and the relationship between CT ability and teaching methods were considered. This study suggested ideas for designing training modules of CT ability and a reference for realizing the best training effect. Finally, future research trends and a general model of training were presented as references for researchers, instructors, and policy makers to promote the CT of pre-service teachers.