ABSTRACT
Computational thinking is gaining recognition as an important skill set for students, both in computer science and other disciplines. Although there has been much focus on this field in recent years, it is rarely taught as a formal course within the curriculum, and there is little consensus on what exactly computational thinking entails and how to teach and evaluate it. To address these concerns, we have developed a computational thinking framework to be used as a planning and evaluative tool. Within this framework, we aim to unify the differing opinions about what computational thinking should involve. As a case study, we have applied the framework to Light-Bot, an educational game with a strong focus on programming, and found that the framework provides us with insight into the usefulness of the game to reinforce computer science concepts.
- J. S. Atherton. Learning and Teaching; Bloom's Taxonomy. Online: www.learningandteaching.info/learning/bloomtax.htm, 2011.Google Scholar
- D. Barr, J. Harrison, and L. Conery. Computational thinking: A digital age skill for everyone. Learning & Leading with Technology, pages 20--22, March/April 2011.Google Scholar
- U. Fuller, C. Johnson, T. Ahoniemi, D. Cukierman, I. Hernán-Losada, J. Jackova, E. Lahtinen, T. Lewis, D. Thompson, C. Riedesel, and E. Thompson. Developing a computer science-specific learning taxonomy. SIGCSE Bull., 39(4):152--170, Dec. 2007. Google ScholarDigital Library
- C. Hu. Computational thinking: what it might mean and what we might do about it. In Proceedings of the 16th annual joint conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education, ITiCSE'11, pages 223--227, New York, NY, USA, 2011. ACM.\balancecolumns Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. J. Lu and G. H. Fletcher. Thinking about computational thinking. SIGCSE Bull., 41:260--264, March 2009. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. Schaefer. Computational thinking in a liberal arts cryptology course. Online: compthink.cs.depaul.edu/documents/finalDrafts/finalDraft_CSC_233.pdf, April 2009.Google Scholar
- J. Wing. Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3):33--35, March 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. Wing. Computational thinking and thinking about computing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, pages 3717--3725, 2008.Google ScholarCross Ref
- J. Wing. Research Notebook: Computational Thinking - What and Why? Online: link.cs.cmu.edu/article.php?a=600, Spring 2011.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Computational thinking in educational activities: an evaluation of the educational game light-bot
Recommendations
Teaching how to teach computational thinking
ITiCSE 2018: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science EducationComputational Thinking is argued to be an essential skill for the workforce of the 21st century. As a skill, Computational Thinking should be taught in all schools, employing computational ideas integrated into other disciplines. Up until now, questions ...
Computational thinking in high school courses
SIGCSE '10: Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science educationThe number of undergraduates entering computer science has declined in recent years. This is paralleled by a drop in the number of high school students taking the CS AP exam and the number of high schools offering computer science courses. The declines ...
Training Teachers to Integrate Computational Thinking into K-12 Teaching
SIGCSE '16: Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science EducationComputational thinking (CT), which encompasses strategies for problem analysis and solution design, is highly applicable in all STEM disciplines, including computer science, for learning concepts as well as solving problems. Yet, the exposure of K-12 ...
Comments