Bringing Computational thinking to K-12 - week 7

Taken from Bringing Computational Thinking to K-12: What is involved and what is the role of computer science education community
by Valerie Barr and Chris Stephenson (2011)

• Computing has made possible profound leaps of innovation and imagination as it facilitates our efforts to solve pressing problems and expands our understanding of ourselves as biological systems and of our relationships to the world around us. (p49)
• The successful embedding of computational thinking concepts into the K-12 curriculum requires two things:
• Educational policy must be changed
• Teachers need resources
• Computer science is neither programming nor computer literacy, it is the study of computers and algorithmic processes including their principles, their hardware and software design, their applications and their impact on society (p49)
• CT is an approach to solving problems in a way that can be implemented with a computer. Students become not merely tool users but tool builders (p51)
• CT sees students engage in using tools to solve problems, be comfortable with trial and error and work in an atmosphere of figuring things out together
• it teachers students that problems can be solved in multiple ways (not just black and white answers)
• CT give students;
• confidence in dealing with complexity
• persistence in working with difficult problems
• the ability to handle ambiguity
• the ability to deal with open ended problems
• the ability to set aside differences to work with others to achieve a common goal
• the opportunity to know one's strengths when working with others

This table gave me great insight into how Computational Thinking is cross-curricular:

Reference:
Barr, V. & Stephenson, C. (2011). "Bringing Computational Thinking to K-12 : What is Involved and What is the Role of the Computer Science Education Community?". pp48-54. acmInroads: DOI: 10.1145/1929887.1929905 (C) 2011 acm 2153-2184/11/0300