PERSPECTIVES OF SCIENCE AND EDUCATION PSEJOURNAL.WORDPRESS.COM SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE | High school students’ computational thinking process to solve derivative calculus problems Y. YULIANA, A. M. ABADI, L. HENDROWIBOWO, N. A. KURDHI ABSTRACT The problem and the aim of the study. Derivative problems can be found through a computational thinking process which includes the stages of decomposition, finding patterns, algorithms, abstraction, and generalization. However, high school students are used to using formulas for solving derivative problems and still find it difficult to present problems in visual form, symbols and words. This situation illustrates the problems of high school students today. This study aims to explore and elucidate the computational thinking processes of high school students as they tackle derivative problems. Research methods. This study aims to find the process of high school students' computational thinking skills in solving derivative problems through descriptive analysis. Data were collected through problem-solving tests and interviews. The subjects of this study included high school students from three State High Schools in Klaten, Indonesia. The instruments consists of two problems which include the problem of finding higher order derivatives (problem 1) and solving for maximum value (problem 2). Interviews were conducted with two representative students (student 1 = SS and student 2 = BD). Results. Students have solved the derivative calculus problem. Some students are able to solve the derivative calculus problem according to the stages of the computational thinking process. Although only 76.92% (problem 1) and 70.51% (problem 2) of students correctly articulated the information, these results are considered substantial. Pattern recognition remains relatively low, with only 20.51% (problem 1) and 19.23% (problem 2) of students accurately identifying derivative solving strategies. However, 28.57% (problem 1) and 32.05% (problem 2) of students exhibited algorithmic thinking. At the generalization stage, only 17.95% (problem 1) and 19.23% (problem 2) of students were able to do it. At the abstraction stage, only 64.10% (problem 1) and 51.28% (problem 2) of students were able to do it. Conclusion. The results of the study showed that there was a computational thinking process in solving derivative problems. The decomposition process can be seen in students writing information on the problem using symbols, writing keywords, and writing the requested problem by including a question mark (?). The pattern recognition process can be seen from the steps in solving the given problem, such as several experiments and systematic stages. The algorithmic thinking process of problem solving can be seen from the explanation of each step of the solution: writing formulas, finding derivatives of the function f(x), finding the nth derivative, getting the volume in the form of V(x), finding the first derivative equal to zero, finding x, finding the size of the box, and finding the maximum volume. The generalization process can be seen in writing the results of calculating derivatives and maximum volume. The abstraction process can be seen in answering the problem. KEYWORDS computational thinking, derivative calculus, thinking process, problem- solving For Citation: Yuliana, Y., Abadi, A. M., Hendrowibowo, L., & Kurdhi, N. A. (2025). High school students’ computational thinking process to solve derivative calculus problems. Perspektivy nauki i obrazovania = Perspectives of Science and Education, (1), 483–495. https://doi.org/10.32744/pse.2025.1.30 Received: 12 August 2024 | Approved: 2 November 2024 | Published: 28 February 2025 This is an open access article distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike International License (CC-BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal