What is the meaning of computational thinking?
Computational thinking is a basic skill that everyone should have in the digital age. Computational thinking, theoretical thinking and experimental thinking together constitute the three pillars of scientific and technological innovation.
Professor Jeanette M. Wing of Carnegie Mellon University defines computational thinking as a series of thinking activities covering the breadth of computer science by using the basic concepts of computer science to solve problems, design systems and understand human behavior.
Computational thinking has the following characteristics:
(1) Computational thinking is conceptual and abstract thinking, not procedural thinking.
(2) Computational thinking is human thinking, not machine thinking.
(3) Computational thinking is an idea, not an artifact.
(4) Computational thinking, mathematics and engineering thinking are complementary and integrated.
(5) Computational thinking faces all people and all fields.
(6) like it? Read, write and calculate? Similarly, computational thinking is a basic skill.
Practical methods of computational thinking education
The cultivation of computational thinking, specific to the practice of primary and secondary education, must have a relying tool and grasping hand. How to infiltrate the education of computational thinking in information technology courses in primary and secondary schools can be tried from the following aspects.
(A) the infiltration of computational thinking in computer programming teaching
Cultivating students' computational thinking through computer programming teaching is the easiest way for information technology teachers in primary and secondary schools to get started. For the cultivation of computational thinking, we should choose visual, modular and easy-to-learn programming software.
LOGO language is an early programming language, and it is also very close to natural language. Painting? Learn programming in a new way and teach beginners, especially children, in an interesting way. Up to now, many people use LOGO language to teach students programming. In 20 12, the content of computational thinking added in the pre-service training of Korean primary school teachers was realized by the algorithm learning project of LOGO language.
Scratch is a new programming language, which allows you to create your own stories, animations, games, music and even paintings in a very simple way, and you can easily share them on the Internet. In Britain, the United States, South Korea, Singapore and other countries, many papers on the cultivation of computational thinking in primary and secondary schools have mentioned the use of Scratch software. In China, many primary and junior high school teachers are also using Scratch software to implement programming teaching.
At present, mobile application development is popular, and APP Inventor is also a good choice. Google App Inventor is a completely online Android programming development environment, which abandons the complicated program code and completes Android programming by stacking building blocks. Some teachers in Beijing Jingshan School and the Middle School Attached to Peking University are trying to cultivate students' computational thinking through APP Inventor programming. Mobile application design will also be included in the information technology curriculum system of senior high school as an elective course.
Of course, it is not necessary to train students' computational thinking by programming on a computer. Jin Subin, a scholar in the Computer Education Department of Jeju University in South Korea, studied the game programming strategy based on paper and pen. Programming only needs paper and pen, not a computer. Research shows that PPS based on pen and paper programming can cultivate students' overall logical thinking ability as well as programming based on LOGO language. Computer Science, a computer textbook for British middle schools, pays more attention to the cultivation of students' computational thinking in the content design, and does not need computers in the programming part. It uses pseudocode, just paper and pen. Teacher Wen Tingting from the High School Attached to the National People's Congress also introduced a similar elective course called Unplugged Computer.
(b) Infiltrating computational thinking through robot teaching
Maria from Tufts University? Yumaki? In Marina Umaschi Bers' research, it is mentioned that three kindergartens in Boston educate children aged 5-6 with computational thinking through TangibleK robot course. Ko Pat, a scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, also mentioned that K 12 students use robots as a tool for computational thinking education. Ten years ago, I started teaching with the help of the ability storm robot. Graphical and modular programming interface is easy to learn and understand. By completing the project task design, students' ability to analyze and solve problems can be well cultivated. Lego mindstorms, which is used by many schools at present, is also a good teaching platform for cultivating students' computational thinking. The structure can be mastered without learning, and the structure can be simple or complex. Programming is also a visual environment in the form of building blocks. Through clever task setting, this task can be accomplished well.
(c) Training students' computational thinking through game software.
University of greenwich, England, tries to implement teaching through computer and electronic games, learning on the basis of games, and imparting theoretical and applied knowledge. They designed an innovative game education framework to develop the ability of computational thinking and promote the learning of the introduction course of computer programming. The limited key concepts of Introduction to Computer Programming are integrated into the game, and students gain computational thinking ability by playing games. Scholars at the University of California, Santa Cruz, studied how to improve middle school students' computational thinking through game programming courses, and designed an evaluation tool for middle school students' computational thinking ability. Wang Danli, a researcher at the Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced an electronic programming tool called T-maze, which allows children aged 5-9 to build computer programs through building blocks in maze games and promote the cultivation of children's computational thinking. Microsoft Research Asia also launched their game My World, which can also cultivate students' computational thinking. This game allows each player to create and destroy different kinds of squares freely in three-dimensional space. In the game, players can create exquisite buildings and artworks by destroying or creating squares in single or multiplayer mode, or collect objects to explore maps to complete the main line of the game. Many primary and middle school students are obsessed with this piece.
(d) Training students' computational thinking through audio and video creation.
The creation of audio and video works needs to go through a complete project process, through which students' computational thinking can also be well cultivated. The Department of Music and Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell offers a course "Computational Thinking in Sound", which is an interdisciplinary subject and a combination of science and technology education and art education. Students' computational thinking is cultivated by playing, analyzing and processing music. At present, there are micro-film and micro-video creation competitions for middle school students all over the country. Information technology teachers in primary and secondary schools can consciously cultivate students' computational thinking with the help of this project.
(e) Cultivating students' computing thinking through open source hardware project design.
The future information technology education in primary and secondary schools not only needs to impart theoretical knowledge, practice and research based on software, but also needs to lead students to do open source hardware project design, which can not only closely follow the hot topic of maker education, but also be a powerful means to cultivate computational thinking. Leading students to design and produce a project from scratch, from planning, implementation to project release, and even applying for venture capital, the whole process contains elements of computational thinking. The open source hardware design project will also be an elective course and will also be included in the national high school information technology curriculum system.
(6) Cultivating students' computational thinking through modeling and simulation.
The combination of computational thinking in mathematics with modeling thinking and scientific thinking model construction in physics can improve the ability to solve various problems in real life. In the course of computer algorithm and programming, the modeling and simulation of practical problems can fully stimulate students' interest and cultivate their thinking methods and problem-solving ability. For example, projectile motion in physics can be simulated scientifically, and discrete sampling, time correspondence and graphic programming in computer science can be practiced comprehensively involving many aspects of knowledge. Another example is the recursive thought in computational thinking, which can be closely combined with the fractal concept in mathematics, fugue in music, infinite rise in art and other forms of expression, giving students an interdisciplinary research topic, finding concrete examples of fractal in real life, and modeling and simulation through computer algorithms and programming.
(seven) other tools and ways to cultivate computational thinking.