ORIGINAL PAPER Learning Computational Thinking Together: Effects of Gender Differences in Collaborative Middle School Robotics Program Gerald Ardito 1 & Betül Czerkawski 2 & Lauren Scollins 3 # Association for Educational Communications & Technology 2020 Abstract Problem-solving and critical thinking are considered important skills to be developed by students, and are supported by the development of Computational Thinking (CT) skills. This study investigated the collaborative development of CT skills in sixth grade students via a six week LEGO robotics program. This robotics program focused on the development of four key CT skills: engineering/building, coding, problem-solving, and collaboration. Students in the program maintained journals of their activities, and these journals were analyzed in order to understand the collaborative development of CT skills in these students. Findings suggest that this process is a gendered one, with the boys focused more on the operational aspects of building and coding their robots while the girls focused more on group dynamics. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Keywords Middle school . Computational thinking . Robotics . Student collaboration . Gender differences . STEM education . Learning networks Introduction In 2006, Jeanette Wing provided the initial definition of Computational Thinking: “Computational thinking involves solving problems, designing systems, and understanding hu- man behavior, by drawing on the concepts fundamental to computer science”(Wing 2006, p. 33). Since then, other re- searchers have further defined Computational Thinking (CT) as being comprised sets of skills and practices. Grover and Pea (2018) define these skills as: logic and logical thinking, algo- rithms and algorithmic thinking, patterns and pattern recogni- tion, abstraction and generalization, evaluation, and automa- tion (p. 23). Additionally, they define these practices as: prob- lem decomposition, creating computational artifacts, testing and debugging, iterative refinement, and collaboration and creativity (Grover and Pea 2018, p. 23). These practices, es- pecially collaboration and creativity, are consistent with vari- ous twenty-first century learning standards, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Next Generation Science Standards 2019). Over the past decade, researchers and practitioners have focused on curricula and learning activities of various types that introduce K-12 students to these CT skills and practices. Some of these experiences have focused on STEM content areas, such as computer programming (Pra and Sengupta 2015; Resnick et al. 2009), game play and development (Tsarava et al. 2018; Weintrop et al. 2016a, b), e-textiles (Fields et al. 2017), and robotics (Weintrop et al. 2016a, b; Xia and Zhong 2018). This research has demonstrated that K-12 students participating in these programs and activities can both increase their content knowledge in the STEM areas as well as enhance their development of CT skills and practices. Other research has sought to investigate curricula and learning activities that address CT skills and practices through non-STEM content areas, such as writing (Burke and Kafai 2012; Wolz et al. 2011), social studies (Barr et al. 2011; Yadav et al. 2016), music (Ruthmann et al. 2010), and art (Knochel and Patton 2015; Sweeny 2017). This research has echoed and reinforced the benefits of exposure to CT skills and practices * Gerald Ardito gardito@pace.edu Betül Czerkawski bcozkan@email.arizona.edu 1 Pace University School of Education, New York City, NY, USA 2 Educational Technology & Informatics, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 3 Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School, 3 Glen Place, Croton on Hudson, NY 10520, USA TechTrends https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-019-00461-8