Computational Thinking: Its really not that scary!

By Kerri Lambert, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist

Computational thinking. It’s one of those current, hot educational phrases that leaves most teachers scratching their heads and thinking, “Does this really apply to me?” Especially when most articles and books stress its relationship and importance to computer science. 

However, the more I read, the more I’m convinced that computational thinking extends to all content at all grade levels. After all, at its most basic, computational thinking is all about the process of problem solving. And let’s face it, that’s something we all do, all day long! 

So what exactly IS computational thinking? By definition, computational thinking is the process of breaking down complex problems down into parts, recognizing patterns, and devising a solution. It has four pillars or processes:

Broken down into the processes, computational thinking seems a lot less intimidating. I mean, even cleaning the house can be broken down into computational thinking: 

• Decomposition: Instead of focusing on the whole kitchen, I’m going to divide it into zones: The sink & dishes, the counter by the stove, and the kitchen island.
• Pattern Recognition: What’s clean? What’s dirty? What goes to A part of the house? B part of the house? Or my favorite, that admittedly does nothing to solve the problem, which child is responsible for this part of the mess?!!
• Abstraction: This next part is probably the toughest piece of the puzzle (particularly if you are a touch OCD like myself). It’s about focusing on the big details and ignoring the little things like all the papers and magnets on the side of the fridge that faces the island. My focus has to be the big items on the island so I can possibly find the counter buried underneath the clutter. Or, the fact that there are for some unknown reason, two sponges and two things of dish detergent sitting by the sink. The important details are the piles of dishes IN the sink.
• Algorithms: Finally, using the patterns I determined, I can formulate a plan. Gather all the things that go to child A’s room and put those away. Next the things that belong to child B, etc. By the time I have my steps done, the problem is solved in that small area and I can move onto the next.

So as you can see, computational thinking is a critical life skill that students need to be taught! Because, aside from helping them devise a plan for cleaning their room, students are constantly faced with situations where they need to problem solve. Having a process to work through can help prevent students from getting overwhelmed. So how can we teach this? How does it relate to content? I’m glad you asked, here are just a few examples of how each part of computational thinking is already being taught in content:

Surprised? We are already doing a lot that fits into this framework. So what else can we do? By purposefully incorporating computational thinking in our instruction, we improve students' capacity to learn and problem solve in school and life. Being mindful of where lessons or parts of lessons fit into the computational thinking framework helps as it allows us to draw students' attention to what they are doing and then apply them at a later time. Utilize words and phrases such as:

• Let’s break this down into parts.
• What do you see here that reminds you of something you already know?
•  Let’s think about the big picture.
•  What’s the first thing you need to do? What’s second? 

Teachers can also purposefully choose graphic organizers to support these ideas. KWL charts, flow maps/sequence charts, part part whole mats, bridge maps, etc all support computational thinking. By using these tools with our students, we encourage them to start thinking in these formats. 

Sure, computational thinking could be limited to just computer science and math classrooms, but why should it be? It’s a powerful process that helps our students become better thinkers and problem solvers, and isn’t that the goal of all teachers? So I encourage you to take a closer look at this educational “buzz word” and see how you can consciously incorporate it into your classroom. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go clean my kitchen.