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Computational Thinking Concepts Guide

This document defines 11 key computational thinking concepts: abstraction, algorithm design, automation, data collection, data analysis, data representation, decomposition, parallelization, pattern generalization, pattern recognition, and simulation. For each concept, the document provides a definition and some teaching tips on how to incorporate the concept into lesson plans across different subject areas.

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Brayan Companocca
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72 views2 pages

Computational Thinking Concepts Guide

This document defines 11 key computational thinking concepts: abstraction, algorithm design, automation, data collection, data analysis, data representation, decomposition, parallelization, pattern generalization, pattern recognition, and simulation. For each concept, the document provides a definition and some teaching tips on how to incorporate the concept into lesson plans across different subject areas.

Uploaded by

Brayan Companocca
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Computational Thinking Concepts Guide 

1. Overview
2. Concepts, Definitions, and Teaching Tips

Overview 
In this guide you will find eleven terms and definitions for Computational Thinking (CT) concepts. These concepts can be
incorporated into existing lesson plans, projects, and demonstrations in order to infuse CT into any disciplinary subject.

Concepts, Definitions, and Teaching Tips 


Abstraction ​is identifying and extracting relevant information to define main idea(s)

Teaching Tips:
● Show how a daily planner uses abstraction to represent a week in terms of days and hours, helping us to
organize our time
● Find the main idea (thesis) of a short story or article to help students understand the important information

Algorithm Design ​is creating an ordered series of instructions for solving similar problems or for doing a task

Teaching Tips:
● Give the example of how in mathematics, when we add and subtract fractions with different denominators, we
follow an algorithm
● Give the example of when a chef writes a recipe for a dish, she is creating an algorithm that others can follow
to replicate the dish

Automation ​is having computers or machines do repetitive tasks

Teaching Tips:
● Show how automation can be used to perform tasks that would take a very long time to complete using a
manual process, such as identifying the migration patterns of a specific demographic based on census data

Data Collection ​is gathering information

Teaching Tips:
● Have students engage in the process of collecting data by having them gather the birthday and gender of their
peers and record it in a spreadsheet

Data Analysis ​is making sense of data by finding patterns or developing insights

Teaching Tips:
● Ask students to formulate their own questions that can be addressed with data collection; work through data
together to answer them
● Using data sets with anonymized personal data, such as height, shoe size, favorite color, etc., show how data
analysis can be used to highlight information that is meaningful and relevant to your students

Data Representation ​is depicting and organizing data in appropriate graphs, charts, words, or images

Teaching Tips:
● Plot data manually on the whiteboard or via projector so that your students can see the process of how the
organization unfolds
● Ask your students which visual representation is best for a given data set and work through some less relevant
visualizations first. Discuss as a class why the data should be represented in one way or another.
Decomposition​ is breaking down data, processes, or problems into smaller, manageable parts

Teaching Tips:
● In mathematics, we can decompose a number such as 256.37 as follows: 2*10​2​+5*10​1​+6*10​0​+3*10​-1​+7*10​-2
● In science we decompose a projectile’s velocity into its components along the x- and y-axis

Parallelization ​is simultaneous processing of smaller tasks from a larger task to more efficiently reach a common goal

Teaching Tips:
● An example of parallelization in computing is when a single task (such as the analysis of a DNA sequence) is
broken into smaller tasks and simultaneously analyzed by different computers so that the analysis can be
processed more efficiently
● Define the common goal at the outset, and then have your students work in groups. Assign different tasks to
each group to work toward the common goal.

Pattern Generalization ​is creating models, rules, principles, or theories of observed patterns to test predicted outcomes

Teaching Tips:
● In mathematics, we write generalized formulas in terms of variables instead of numbers so that we can use
them to solve problems involving different values
○ The slope of any straight line can be described as a function of y = mx + b
● In science, we use theories to describe the generalized mechanism by which natural phenomena occur

Pattern Recognition ​is observing patterns, trends, and regularities in data

Teaching Tips:
● Have your students identify trends in stock price cycles that may suggest when they should be bought and
sold

Simulation ​is developing a model to imitate real-world processes

Teaching Tips:
● Have your students illustrate the movement of a solar system by modeling the gravitationally curved path of
an object around a point in space

More reference docs, lesson plans, and demonstrations can be found on Google’s Exploring Computational Thinking
website (​g.co/exploringCT​)

Except as otherwise​ ​noted​, the content of this reference doc is licensed under the​ ​Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License​, and code samples are licensed under the​ ​Apache 2.0 License​.

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