Abstract:

Computational thinking is an emerging component of broader 21st century thinking required by all learners to actively participate in a digital economy. Utilizing graphical computer coding software in a variety of subjects, across disciplines, will provide a foundation for critical, creative thinking and decision making [1].

In this work we study the development of educational modules – lessons for students and lesson plans for teachers--with computational thinking elements that can be easily integrated in existing K-12 curricula. We present methods of using computational thinking core elements to develop modules for different domains and describe how combination of these methods may provide more analytic background for assessing the problem solving ability of students in K-12 in a variety of contexts and disciplines (arts, music, science and mathematics). Although Computational Thinking can be offered without programming instruction [2], we use a graphical coding application developed by researchers at MIT--Scratch. Programming provides a great tool for developing and exercising Computational Thinking skills, and transferring to problem solving skills in general. The Scratch programming language uses an easy “drag and drop” technology, allowing us to focus on problem solving skill building rather than the language and syntax of programming. This, in turn, allows us to measure students’ understanding of Computational Thinking concepts.

We will present a framework of computational thinking elements and the rubric used in the development of the educational modules. The modules are intended to challenge students to develop a deeper level of inquiry in computational thinking tasks and allow us to measure students’ ability in 21st century problem solving skills.

References:
[1] ISTE standards for students. http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-students
[2] James J Lu and George HL Fletcher. Thinking about computational thinking. In ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, volume 41, pages 260–264. ACM, 2009.

Keywords:

Computational thinking, problem solving, educational technology, graphical programming languages in education.