Understanding Computational Thinking

Computing! Argh! Algorithms, debugging, decomposition, abstraction… What does it all mean?? Much like grammatical terms like ‘adverbials of time’, the answer is much simpler than you think. Let’s explore some commonly found and sometimes confusing terms in Computing to take the fear out of it.

Computational Thinking There are four important skills in computational thinking: Decomposition Pattern Recognition Abstraction Algorithm Design

Decomposition This is simply the process of breaking down a problem into smaller parts in order to solve it, e.g. using RUCSAC to solve word problems in maths or planning a project in D&T.

Pattern recognition This is quite self explanatory. The critical skills of pattern recognition is useful in many contexts besides computational thinking, e.g. working out rules in number sequences.

Abstraction Abstraction is the removal of all unnecessary detail to focus on the important information, e.g. creating a story mountain or storyboard from a piece of text to understand its structure.

Algorithms An algorithm is just a set of instructions. These instructions are then put into code (computer language) to create a program which tells the computer what to do. Debugging is simply the process of identifying an error (or bug) in your code and fixing it! Debugging gets easier as our computational thinking skills improve.

Questions? Hopefully this whistle-stop tour of the aspects of computational thinking will have left you feeling a bit more confident in teaching them to your class. Remember, all of these are consistently and repeatedly referred to in all of the Kapow Primary Computing lesson packs and videos. Do you have any questions about teaching Computing? ?