ABSTRACT
Computational Thinking (CT) has been increasingly recognized as an essential paradigm for the development of crucial skills and competencies for a contemporary society. In view of the current legislation to incorporate the teaching of Computing from Basic Education, the importance of this approach in improving school learning and in the more effective use of technologies for the benefit of society is highlighted. This paper analyzes CT learning in an applied programming course conducted with 395 public school students from the final grades of elementary school in Vale do São Patrício. Only 18.4% of the students were aware of the term CP and after the course, 88% declared that they were confident in using CP to solve problems.