Tutors' perceptions of ICTs in promoting computational thinking among pre-service teachers in Tanzanian colleges

The current study explores tutors' perceptions of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to develop computational thinking (CT) skills among pre-service teachers. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposively selected 4 principals and 20 tutors, and focus grou...

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Main Authors: Vicky Mrosso, Placidius Ndibalema, Abdon Ephrem
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Academy of Cognitive and Natural Sciences 2025-07-01
Series:CTE Workshop Proceedings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://acnsci.org/journal/index.php/cte/article/view/902
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author Vicky Mrosso
Placidius Ndibalema
Abdon Ephrem
author_facet Vicky Mrosso
Placidius Ndibalema
Abdon Ephrem
author_sort Vicky Mrosso
collection DOAJ
description The current study explores tutors' perceptions of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to develop computational thinking (CT) skills among pre-service teachers. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposively selected 4 principals and 20 tutors, and focus group discussions were held with 32 purposely selected pre-service teachers from 4 colleges, making a total of 56 participants. The findings revealed that tutors dominantly perceive CT as a digital literacy skill while ignoring the cognitive processes that underlie CT skills such as abstraction, algorithmic thinking, decomposition, and pattern recognition. Further, the findings show that tutors had limited understanding of identifying appropriate methods for developing CT, such as block-based programming tools. The study recommends that policymakers explicitly include CT and its aspects in the teacher education curriculum and conduct pilot testing of professional development training to foster CT skills using ICT among tutors.
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spelling doaj-art-a73a1dd96b184fdeb29d58a38c40187f2025-08-20T03:08:50ZengAcademy of Cognitive and Natural SciencesCTE Workshop Proceedings2833-54732025-07-0110.55056/cte.902Tutors' perceptions of ICTs in promoting computational thinking among pre-service teachers in Tanzanian collegesVicky Mrosso0Placidius Ndibalema1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9119-4255Abdon Ephrem2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1222-8219The University of DodomaThe University of DodomaThe University of Dodoma The current study explores tutors' perceptions of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to develop computational thinking (CT) skills among pre-service teachers. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposively selected 4 principals and 20 tutors, and focus group discussions were held with 32 purposely selected pre-service teachers from 4 colleges, making a total of 56 participants. The findings revealed that tutors dominantly perceive CT as a digital literacy skill while ignoring the cognitive processes that underlie CT skills such as abstraction, algorithmic thinking, decomposition, and pattern recognition. Further, the findings show that tutors had limited understanding of identifying appropriate methods for developing CT, such as block-based programming tools. The study recommends that policymakers explicitly include CT and its aspects in the teacher education curriculum and conduct pilot testing of professional development training to foster CT skills using ICT among tutors. https://acnsci.org/journal/index.php/cte/article/view/902information and communication technologiescomputational thinking skillstutorspre-service teachers
spellingShingle Vicky Mrosso
Placidius Ndibalema
Abdon Ephrem
Tutors' perceptions of ICTs in promoting computational thinking among pre-service teachers in Tanzanian colleges
CTE Workshop Proceedings
information and communication technologies
computational thinking skills
tutors
pre-service teachers
title Tutors' perceptions of ICTs in promoting computational thinking among pre-service teachers in Tanzanian colleges
title_full Tutors' perceptions of ICTs in promoting computational thinking among pre-service teachers in Tanzanian colleges
title_fullStr Tutors' perceptions of ICTs in promoting computational thinking among pre-service teachers in Tanzanian colleges
title_full_unstemmed Tutors' perceptions of ICTs in promoting computational thinking among pre-service teachers in Tanzanian colleges
title_short Tutors' perceptions of ICTs in promoting computational thinking among pre-service teachers in Tanzanian colleges
title_sort tutors perceptions of icts in promoting computational thinking among pre service teachers in tanzanian colleges
topic information and communication technologies
computational thinking skills
tutors
pre-service teachers
url https://acnsci.org/journal/index.php/cte/article/view/902
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AT placidiusndibalema tutorsperceptionsofictsinpromotingcomputationalthinkingamongpreserviceteachersintanzaniancolleges
AT abdonephrem tutorsperceptionsofictsinpromotingcomputationalthinkingamongpreserviceteachersintanzaniancolleges