Thinking Computationally

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By Kerri Lambert, Teacher Specialist, AACPS Office of Instructional Technology

This is the fifth post in a series about the Maryland Digital Learning Standards.

The fifth Maryland Digital Learning for Students focuses on a key topic in education: Computational Thinking. While most people consider computational thinking to be a part of Computer Science, in actuality it’s a key component of all content areas and life in general.

Here’s the standard as it’s written:

5. Computational Thinker

Students develop processes and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that
leverage the power of technology. Students:
a) identify problems that can be solved using data analysis, abstract models and/or algorithmic
thinking;
b) collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent
data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making;
c) break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive
models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving; and
d) understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

So what does all of that mean? How can content teachers incorporate computational thinking into their daily instruction? Well, I outlined all of that in this previous OIT Byte post. You can check it out here.

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