Computational Thinking?

“Computational thinking? Human beings think like computer? That’s weird!”

That is how I felt when I first saw the words “Computational thinking” (CT).  After reading Wing’s article Computational thinking I knew I was totally wrong. But I was very happy that day. I still remember my excitement when I told my husband that “Today I learnt something new”. I am not a science person, my thinking is like water, which can flow everywhere. As a result when something unexpected happens my brain is just a mess. I was the one who really needs to be taught about CT. It is a pity that there was not such a thing called computational thinking in my time.

Wing (2006) suggests that CT is a fundamental skill that every human being must know to function properly in modern society. In the history of mankind, we do not have the term of computational thinking is because we do not need to think at multi levels of abstraction?

A CT course was introduced into Australia’s primary and secondary school curricula several years ago. The subject area includes English, mathematics, science and art (Hsu, Chang & Hung, 2018). In terms of how to learn and how to teach computational thinking in language classroom it seems it has not been touched. I can imagine how hard it will be for me to teach CT in my Chinese language classroom as I myself do not have CT skill. Teachers like me need specific training prior to teach students the skill.

Actually, CT can be combined with languages (Evia, Sharp & Perez-Quinones, 2015) through learning strategy of storytelling (Hsu, Chang & Hung, 2018). Isbell (2002) suggests that many stories that work well with children include repetitive phrases, unique words, and enticing descriptions. Kids are encouraged by these characteristics to join in actively to repeat, chant, sing, or retell the story. Actively listening to and retelling stories can help children create their own stories.

Creating a Chinese story using Scratch

One of the teaching tools in the CT courses is Scratch. It is an online visual programming language. Users can create online projects by coding with simple blocks. In language classroom students may write their own stories and illustrate these stories using Scratch as visual content is easier to understand, and this way students’ creativity can also be fostered. But how to assess their computational thinking skill is still a big issue for me.

References

Evia, C., Sharp, M. R., & Perez-Quinones, M. A. (2015). Teaching structured authoring and DITA through rhetorical and computational thinking. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 58(3), 328-343.

Hsu, T. C., Chang, S. C., & Hung, Y. T. (2018). How to learn and how to teach computational thinking: Suggestions based on a review of the literature. Computers & Education, 126, 296-310.

Isbell, R. T. (2002). Telling and Retelling Stories: Learning Language and Literacy. Supporting Language Learning. Young Children, 57(2), 26-30.

Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33-35.