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 ISTEDownload the Operational Definition of Computational Thinking for K-12 Education. As you will have realised, it was produced for an American audience, but I don’t think that should make any difference whatsoever. 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!
