Professional Development

This section is provided to help teachers quickly learn the basics of Computational Thinking (CT), and determine how to incorporate it into their own teaching and lesson plans. Why do this? There is a hypothesis that CT is a critical skill for 21st-century students. The hypothesis states that not only is this skill critical for our students and ultimately our population to use computing and technology effectively, CT also supports and enhances the learning of more traditional curriculum. In the 21st century, our students need to develop CT skills, along with "reading, writing and arithmetic". How to start? An important part of bringing CT into the classroom is finding opportunities to highlight patterns; generalize rules and algorithms from those recognized patterns; and optionally, formalize the rules and procedures into a simple computer program. Helping students see the value and importance of this process by making it explicit is key. Another aspect of CT is "data skills", that is, being able to collect, analyze and represent data in meaningful ways. Helping students become adept at working with large, sophisticated data sets is an important skill no matter what area they choose for a career. Where to apply it? The majority of our current examples are in math and science, since this is where patterns, algorithms and data are most naturally found, and can be most easily formalized into programs. But there are many opportunities in other topic areas. For example, data skills can be developed in social studies when students study battle statistics or population data, identify trends and summarize their findings. When a teacher can connect the data skills used in social studies or math with the same data skills used in science, it reinforces their importance, and helps students understand that its the same set of skills applied in different domains. The same is true with patterns and algorithms Its the same thought process with different application

Why is Google interested in computational thinking in K-12?

Computational thinking involves a set of skills that software engineers use to write programs that run all of the computer applications you use. Given the increasing prevalence of technology in our every day lives and in most careers outside of computer science, Google wants to support the building of these problem-solving skills to help raise the base level of understanding for everyone. By providing teachers, administrators and parents with curriculum models and techniques that highlight our specific approach, we, along with the help of several committed teachercontributors, hope to show how CT can be applied and integrated across many domains, including math, science, language and beyond. Our goals are to:

Demonstrate how CT can be incorporated in the classroom to enhance the learning of core curriculum Provide teachers, parents, and administrators with models and tools for incorporating CT into their classrooms, ultimately building this 21st century skill in students as they progress through K-12 Allow students to experience technology in other subject areas than necessarily in computer science Level the playing field for all students to gain a deeper understanding of computing

I'm thinking of incorporating CT into my classroom curriculum. Where do I start?

View our classroom-ready lessons and examples, which illustrate how you might incorporate computational thinking into your own curriculum for K-12. We encourage you to adapt these materials to work for your particular students and situation. If, at any time, you run into issues or have questions, feel free to post to our ECT Discussion Forums.

Why is Python the programming language introduced and used in the CT lessons, examples and programs?
Python is free, easy to download, and is a relatively straightforward language to work with. It offers users two modes: the interpreter mode and the editor mode. At a very basic level, when in the interpreter mode, it acts just like a calculator. But it also has very robust programming capabilities as well. See Introduction to Python for information on how to introduce and use Python in your curriculum, or visit http://www.python.org/ for general Python information.

The Python programs seem too advanced for my students. How can I adapt the materials to work for my particular students?

In developing our exemplar lessons and examples, we wanted to illustrate the various techniques used in computational thinking, from decomposition to algorithm design and implementation. However, we agree that not all the programming exercises are suitable for all students. Thus we really encourage you to adapt our materials to suit the needs of your classroom, which may be dependent on the computing resources you have available as well as the grade and skill level of your students. Below are some ways in which you may choose to adapt our materials:

Have students complete all of the exercises that lead up to the programs, and have them explain how they would design such an algorithm in their own words instead of writing actual Python programs Expose students to the programs by projecting them, analyzing them step-by-step as a class, and then running them using values and variables provided by your students Remove logical code sections from the completed programs and have students work together to fill in the missing parts Have students work together enhance a completed program to solve more sophisticated problems that involve different scenarios

How do I install Python on my computer?

Follow the steps outlined in our Python Download and Install Instructions or visit http://www.python.org/ for information on how to download and install Python on your computer.

How can I submit curriculum to be added to the website?

To add your own CT curriculum to the website, join the appropriate ECT Discussion Forum and share your materials with other like-minded educators. Depending on the content, we may also consider adding your curriculum to our list of related web resources.

How do I learn more in general?

Check out other related web resources, or join a ECT Discussion Forum to discuss and see how others are incorporating CT into their classrooms.

How can I send feedback on the program in general, the website, and/or the provided curriculum examples?
We appreciate any feedback you might have! Feel free to post your questions and/or comments to our ECT Discussion Forums.