There is quite a bit of information on the web about computational thinking. Some very deep and learned stuff too. But I am very much a “one side of A4” kind of guy, so I was very pleased to discover this one page flyer about it.
A very useful flyer from CSTA and ISTE
Download the Operational Definition of Computational Thinking for K-12 Education. Produced by the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), this is a very practical guide, as its title suggests.
One thing I’d like to observe: the term “computational thinking” sounds a lot more horrible than it really is. Around 15 years ago I put forward the suggestion of dispensing with ICT altogether and replacing it with a subject called “Thinking Skills”, in which technology would be used as and when appropriate. To my enduring shame I did so under cover of a pseudonym, such was the opprobrium with which I thought the idea would be greeted. In the event, it was completely ignored, which is probably worse. As Oscar Wilde so astutely observed:
There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Oh well, onward and, hopefully, upward!
cross-posted on www.ictineducation.org
Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Computers in Classrooms."
