In a global digital information age where communication technology and digital literacy are essentially becoming an instrumental tool in order for success in the 21st century- it is imperative for students to develop their computational thinking skills. Computational thinking involves problem-solving, system design and understanding human behaviour on the fundamental concepts of computer science (Wing, 2006). The National Research Council (2010) draws attention to the importance of individuals acquiring computational thinking skills, emphasising that these skills shouldn’t be merely reserved for computer programmers. It is critical for students to become adept in their digital proficiency as computational problem solving becomes more prevalent in this day and age.
It is vital that in the K-12 years that teachers, parents and students know that:
- It is vital for students to be intellectually challenged and engaged in scientific problems that need to be understood and solved. They are only limited by curiosity and creativity.
- Any individual who majors in computer science can do anything
Blockly Maze is a basic coding game which is free and readily available to students and teachers alike. It is an introduction into loops and conditionals and provides a challenging activity to students with a simple interface for students of all abilities to use. Blockly Maze, allows students to use computational thinking abilities to help a man go from point A-B using basic programming, sequencing techniques. It provides students with basic instructional assistance and allows students to problem solve through trial-and-error processing – which is essential to coding, which allows students to experiment with an array of variables (Mishra & Yadav, 2013)
Dash & Dot are educational robotics which can be controlled from an iPad using Blockly – it provides students with a more tangible application of coding and allows students to move between abstraction and representation (Barr & Stephenson, 2011). In the video below, students us their problem-solving abilities to move their robot with Blockly on their iPad. This could be used for Mathematics Stage 1 students when learning about centimetres as seen below. By designing their own course for their robot and then problem solving and collaborating to move it from one end of the course to another they are utilising computational thinking skills. These activities draw upon trans-disciplinary skills which are essential for creativity (Mishra, Koehler & Henriksen, 2011).
A bundle of six ‘Dash’ robots cost USD$795 which can be an implication for schools which do not have the funding to support this kind of technology. However, it provides students with an introduction to coding and robotics and allows students to be creative by using computational thinking skills as they correlate with another.
References:
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? ACM Inroads, 2(1), 48-54.
Grover, S. & Pea, R. (2013). Computational Thinking in K-12: A Review of the State of the Field. Educational Research, 42 (38), 38-43.
National Research Council. (2010). Report of a Workshop on the Scope and Nature of Computational Thinking. National Academies Press.
Mishra, P., & The Deep-Play Research Group (2012). Rethinking technology & creativity in the 21st century: Crayons are the future. TechTrends, 56(5), 13-16.
Mishra, P., Yadav, A., & Deep-Play Research Group. (2013). Rethinking technology & creativity in the 21st century. TechTrends, 57(3), 10-14.
Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational Thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49 (3), 33-35.
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