Reading Review Blog Post #3

COMPUTATIONAL THINKING (CT)

I first took a step back to look at the three main questions I had:

“What is computational thinking?”

“Why should I teach computational thinking?”

“How do I teach computational thinking?”

In reading through and looking at the materials I collected last week. I am heartened to see that it is a skill that will prove immensely useful to my students as they continue their learning in upper levels (high school and beyond) and that these skills can and do lend themselves to be easily blended into my day to day activities and routines.

So, what is CT?

Its FOUR CORE COMPONENTS (BBC, n.d.)
Decomposition – breaking down a problem into smaller more manageable parts
Pattern Recognition – analyzing similar objects or experiences and identify commonalities
Abstraction – focusing on the information that is relevant and important
Algorithms – developing a solution to a problem

I pulled out some statements from Jeannette Wing’s (2006) article that resonated the most with me:

Why should CT be taught in schools? Simply because it is a valuable way of thinking that can be broadly applied to everyday life and will give students the ability to take information, break it down, consider the pieces, and gain a balanced understanding. In Will Richardson’s (2012) book Why School? – he quotes Tom Wagner:

“There's no competitive advantage today in knowing more than the person next to you. The world doesn't care what you know. What the world cares about is what you can do with what you know."

I strongly feel it is for this reason that we need to teach computational thinking to ensure our students have the capacity and ability to take all of this “abundance” of information and make sense of it so that they can use it meaningfully and accurately in whatever setting they find themselves.

How do I teach CT? I was recently reminded in a discussion post by a peer in the course of a series of articles by Kristin Fontichiaro called “Nudging Towards Inquiry”, where she takes elements of Inquiry and breaks them down into small, manageable nuggets so that teachers can integrate it into their classroom teaching and shift their mindset of adapting it slowly; gaining confidence as they built their understanding. I loved her column immensely; it was approachable and took away so many of the fears and concerns I had in what I thought was a huge undertaking. Couldn’t this same tactic be used in integrating CT? Of course it can! And in my collected articles, I found the same sentiments expressed: start with small parts, work it in and build from there.

Some examples:

From Ricketts (2018) – In kindergarten (Algorithms-sequencing)

Read a picture book in which a character travels to a clear sequence of locations.

Write a "program" for the character's movement.

Use a map and doll, run the program by moving the doll to each location on the map.

From Noonoo (2019) – In Social Studies (Pattern recognition)

List state/province names on the board in two columns and have students figure out why they are grouped the way they are. (By etymology, derived from European vs First Nations languages). Leading to learning about geography but also looking at regional toponyms.

I hope to continue my learning while introducing CT to my colleagues. Showcasing to them small parts and sharing activities that they can use right away, I look to pave the way to better understanding and hopefully give impetus to building these valuable computational skills into our day to day teaching.

References

BBC. What is computational thinking? - Introduction to computational thinking - KS3 Computer Science Revision - BBC Bitesize. Retrieved 5 October 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zp92mp3/revision/1

Noonoo, S. (2019). Computational Thinking Is Critical Thinking. And It Works in Any Subject. – Edsurge News. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-05-21-computational-thinking-is-critical-thinking-and-it-works-in-any-subject

Richardson, W. (2012). Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information are Everywhere [eBook edition]. Ted Conferences.

Ricketts, R. (2018). Computational Thinking for Kindergartners. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/computational-thinking-kindergartners

Thorson, K. (2018). 4 Early Learning Strategies for Developing Computational Thinking Skills. Retrieved from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2018/03/early-learning-strategies-for-developing-computational-thinking-skills/