CT Curriculum

[Jennifer]

We're building out more examples of computational thinking (CT) for K12 curriculum and want to hear from you! We'd love to hear your thoughts on CT with a few possible questions below.

• Have you experienced any obstacles while incorporating CT into your teaching?
• Do your students find certain aspects of CT particularly challenging? How have you addressed these?
• What types of materials would help you incorporate CT into your lessons?
• Do you have any success stories to share? We love success stories!

[Gay Krause]

Hi Jennifer,

We are trying to learn more and will share with you what we learn
soon. We are not sure who all the participants were, but we'll find
out and get back to you.

Many thanks for your interest, sharing, and involvement with our FAME
teachers and the KCI. We hope to get together again soon!

gay krause

[Tara Bickford]

Hi Jennifer,
 
I am teaching 5th grade this year.  My math class is the low level math class.  I have students who have very poor attention span.  I am currently exploring options for more engaging materials.  However, when it comes to technology, I have an interactive white board and 4 computers.  This simply is not realistic for my students and what their needs are.
In order to incorporate this into any lower grade class I would think you would want a computer lab or laptop cart for the entire class. 
 
I hope my response helps!

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Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:05:59 -0800
From: new...@google.com
To: general-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: CT Curriculum

[Jennifer Newell]

Thanks for the feedback. Having spent five years in a public, inner-city, classroom, I am familiar with the challenges of teaching low level students with limited attention spans, as well as a lack of hardware.

We are currently working on new examples of CT targeting K6 students and teachers that are less dependent on access to a computer lab. The true value of learning to decompose a problem, identify patterns, generalize those patterns, and write an algorithm should not lie in the ability to program a computer, but rather in the ability to analyze and solve problems. We have found that when computers are available, the ability for students to see their algorithms run on an actual machine is often a powerful motivator and provides them with a great sense of accomplishment. The hardware should be a bonus rather than a prerequisite for practicing CT.

Since access to computers brings up issues in many classrooms, we are interested in hearing strategies for implementing algorithms when the actual hardware is not available. A few ideas so far are:

• Students work in pairs to "program" each other. The "programmer" reads off each step of her/his algorithm, while the "computer" carries out the steps, exactly as instructed, to see if the algorithm leads to the correct solution.
• For educators with access to one computer and a projector, provide students with a snippet of Python code on paper to complete by hand, and ask individuals to come to the front of the room to test out their solutions by running the code for the entire class.
• For educators who are interested in exposing their students to a bit of Python code but have limited access to computers, encourage students to write algorithms in their own words (pseudocode) and compare/contrast their algorithms to algorithms written in Python.

More ideas on how to get around the hardware issue are very welcome!