Название: Teaching Computational Thinking: An Integrative Approach for Middle and High School Learning
Автор: Maureen D. Neumann, Lisa Dion
Издательство: The MIT Press
Год: 2021
Страниц: 200
Язык: английский
Формат: epub
Размер: 33.8 MB

A guide for educators to incorporate computational thinking - a set of cognitive skills applied to problem solving - into a broad range of subjects.

Computational thinking - a set of mental and cognitive tools applied to problem solving - is a fundamental skill that all of us (and not just computer scientists) draw on. Educators have found that computational thinking enhances learning across a range of subjects and reinforces students’ abilities in reading, writing, and arithmetic. This book offers a guide for incorporating computational thinking into middle school and high school classrooms, presenting a series of activities, projects, and tasks that employ a range of pedagogical practices and cross a variety of content areas.

As students problem solve, communicate, persevere, work as a team, and learn from mistakes, they develop a concrete understanding of the abstract principles used in computer science to create code and other digital artifacts. The book guides students and teachers to integrate computer programming with visual art and geometry, generating abstract expressionist-style images; construct topological graphs that represent the relationships between characters in such literary works as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Romeo and Juliet; apply Newtonian physics to the creation of computer games; and locate, analyze, and present empirical data relevant to social and political issues. Finally, the book lists a variety of classroom resources, including the programming languages Scratch (free to all) and Codesters (free to teachers). An accompanying website contains the executable programs used in the book’s activities.

We discuss how to integrate computational thinking into instructional practice, and why, through integrated classroom activities and rich tasks that cross a variety of content areas using computer programming (e.g., Scratch, Codesters, and Python) and follow a low-threshold, high-ceiling, wide-wall learning format. Along with coding experiences, each chapter in this book includes activities that do not rely on the use of digital technology. We integrate computational thinking into a broad range of content areas in the middle and high school curricula (e.g., art, social studies, physical and environmental sciences, English language arts, and mathematics), and the activities and tasks described connect directly to national standards. In the middle and high school grades, computational thinking can be applied either by using computers or with pencil-and-paper activities. We include each of these types of activities incorporating problem solving, abstraction, and teamwork, and we differentiate the learning experiences for students by including embodied learning activities, group work experiences, and varying student products or processes of learning. We also show how students can code solutions to different questions by using open-source programming environments.

Contents:
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Creating Algorithmic Art
- 3 Applying Graph Theory to Analyze Literature and Social Networks
- 4 Using Abstraction, Iteration, and Recursion in Labyrinths and Mazes
- 5 Simulating the Different Laws of Physics in Video Games
- 6 Critically Examining and Analyzing Data
- 7 Incorporating Computational Thinking into the Classroom
- Appendix: Computer Programs
- References
- Index