The Effects of Mind Maps on Computational Thinking

Abstract
Mind Maps (MM) have proven to be a practical approach that promotes meaningful learning in various domains. Yet, few works exist that investigate employing MM to blend CT across curricula. In this paper, we developed a MM approach - named Storyboard-tree - to transform "Standard/traditional" slides (SS) to the MM structure. Storyboard-tree associates the information by creating a story that chains the data with ideas and concepts which lead from the first to next and so on. The applied materials are two models in an Introduction to Computer Science (CS) course. The study utilizes two sections: one is taught with MM, and the other with SS. The observed academic results and the acceptance rate of the students and the instructors were encouraging. MM with freshman show statically significant self-efficiency scores with an approximate 50% better performance than with SS in the Algorithm concept, while all students show a statistically similar trend in the knowledge gained as well as the fondness of the approach through the self-efficiency scores. Instructor satisfaction tends to go more towards the SS approach seeing the MM implementation as not mature enough. However, the investigation concludes that the mind map technique is a feasible way to deliver CT concepts, thereby a practical approach to integrate CT into the curriculum.