Sheikh - Computational Thinking is only for the math-type?

This week’s articles touched on quite a few recurrent concerns we have raised in our class discussions.

How to make programming ‘fun’ is amongst them. Wolz focuses on getting people, students and teachers alike, interested in computational thinking and programming, through not only infusing it into their K-12 non-math-type subjects,but also through building on their confidence level. Developing a ‘positive thinking’ towards computational thinking is a basic step forward. ‘Attitudinal change’ is the prerequisite.

In class we have discussed time and again, about the what computational thinking really is, and who are the people who are seen capable of computational thinking and why.  I loved the fact that Wolz and Pearson’s article challenges the common misunderstanding that computational thinking is only for the ‘math types’ and can only be used in the STEM disciplines. Only once  a teacher himself/herself is comfortable and confident about programming will he/she  be able to inspire the students towards the same. This would also positively affect the lack of teaching faculty interested in this discipline.

They show an example of it being used for interactive journalism - story building is something we even see in Brennan & Resnick’s article - This was of particular interest to me because of the ‘Into the Shadows’ scratch project we are working on with the kids. It is interesting that with respect to gender differences mentioned, the article says how girls get attracted towards writing stories, but we only have one girl, and the rest are all boys. Breaking through different stereotypes is definitely an important milestone that needs to be achieved to be able to use infusion vs. injection as a strategy.

In terms of differences from what we have previously read, Brennan & Resnick lay out a discussion on the assessment of computational thinking vs a definition that of what computational thinking is, as we see in Grover and Pea and Wing.

Wolz and Pearson do emphasize on involvement and the user perspective, slanting towards Kafai’s concept of computational participation, with social component being seen as the topics of interest in terms of civic engagement.