Using Computational Thinking in the Content Areas

Dr. Mary Beth Townsend, High School Social Studies Teacher
Two Rivers High School, West St. Paul, MN

What is Computational Thinking?
As a teacher, I never gave much thought to computational thinking until I was working on my ISTE Certified Educator portfolio. It didn’t seem like something relevant for social studies content. In fact, through the certification process, I learned that computational thinking is everywhere and can be used with the youngest of students. Often, they might be doing one of the related components in a class, but are unaware of the connection to computational thinking. By calling out the factors during instruction, content area teachers can build competencies without changing their instruction or adding in one more thing.

Computational thinking can be an intimidating concept and it is not the same as computer science. Although the two are linked, it is possible to use computational thinking without technology at all! There are several steps required for computational thinking. They are: decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithm design. These steps can be found more thoroughly on the ISTE Standards for Students

I used computational thinking with my seniors in my psychology class last year. Our unit was on learning and thinking; I had students partner up and interview each other about their routines for getting ready for school. Then, each student had to prepare a plan to improve the routine somehow. Next, they story-boarded their solutions and shared their drafts with their partners, iterating on the design as needed based on feedback. Finally, they used the program Scratch to demonstrate their ideation to their partner. The results were quite amusing!

Why is it important to learn?
Computational thinking starts with decomposition. Decomposition can be an intimidating concept, but it just involves breaking down a complex problem into its parts or steps. Some examples include following a recipe or steps needed to get ready for school each day. A teacher might have students write out a short stage play, for example. If the stage directions are not explicit, actions cannot happen. If an item isn’t placed on the stage at the start, the actor cannot pick it up.

The next step is pattern recognition. Pattern recognition is a skill that is useful in all disciplines and in every age group. Students can learn to make groupings of items in a content area, look for patterns of speech in a piece of text, or create mind maps of related topics. Once students start to find patterns, they will look for them more frequently.

Abstract thinking can be a challenge for students as well. Once students have a pattern to work with, they can begin examining what elements to remove or add in. For example, although my students focused on their partner’s morning routine, it became clear that their bedtime rituals also mattered. And then, their work schedules became a factor. As more factors were added in, students had to revise their understanding of the problem and remove the factors that were less important. Abstract thinking helped my students create a model for their partner to follow.

Finally, students learn how to create and test an algorithm. Recipes are algorithms, and are a good place to start. Steps in a recipe follow a plan to make the food turn out correctly. They are repeatable, and if followed with fidelity, they should get the same results each time. Skipping steps or doing them out of order can have a big impact. A science experience and lab report follow this model as well. Games are algorithms, too. Having students create a game and play test it is a great way for them to learn the process.

What resources and tools can help?
There are many tech tools that can help in each phase of computational thinking. Tools for helping with decomposition are everywhere: from project planning tools, to world or game-building tools (Mario World, MineCraft, etc). Tools for pattern recognition and organization can be spreadsheets and graphing tools. Tools for abstraction can be a simple as a word document with cloze passage for students to complete or text or math patterns to identify and extrapolate. Starting simple helps students identify the skill more easily. There are many tech tools for learning the algorithmic process. Some to check out are: code.org, Scratch, and GoatSimulator

ISTE has a wealth of tools and resources to benefit all levels of instruction, including a great article from Jorge Valenzuela: How to develop computational thinkers and one on incorporating computational thinking into a Spanish class by Nick Pinder: Understanding Problems With Computational Thinking: Decomposition.

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