Integrating computational thinking across the K--8 curriculum

INTEGRATING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING ACROSS THE K–8 CURRICULUM and non-routine manual work have grown as a proportion of the labor market. Under these circumstances, young people's preparation for the workforce must adapt. Two types of tasks that rely on uniquely human abilities are (1) the ability to integrate many kinds of information to solve unstructured problems and (2) acquiring , making sense of, and communicating information to others. Computational thinking is a key skill in the realm of solving unstructured problems, understanding and interpreting data, and communicating information to others using computers. This paper aims to help K-8 educators and the public at large understand how computational thinking can be integrated within existing curriculum through three genres of computing activities. Computational thinking (CT) is a term coined by Jeannette Wing [22] to describe a set of thinking skills, habits and approaches that are integral to solving complex problems using a computer and widely applicable in the information society. Thinking com-putationally draws on the concepts that are fundamental to computer science, and involves systematically and efficiently processing information and tasks. CT involves defining, understanding, and solving problems, reasoning at multiple levels of abstraction, understanding and applying automation, and analyzing the appro-priateness of the abstractions made. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Computer Science Teacher Association (CSTA) collaborated with leaders from higher education, industry and K-12 education to develop an operational definition of computational thinking that provides a framework and vocabulary that resonates with K-12 educators [4]. In the operational definition, computa-T he excitement around K-12 Computing Education in the United States is rapidly increasing and K-8 holds great potential as the entry point for the integration of computing. We examine how young learners can gain early exposure and engage in rich computational experiences in K-8. These experiences can build students' computational thinking, understanding of CS concepts, programming skills and confidence as critical thinkers as well as provide experience with collecting and analyzing data. We discuss how three types of computational activities—digital storytelling, data collection and analysis, and computational science investigations—can be used to incorporate computational thinking (CT) across the curriculum. In " Dancing with Robots " Frank Levy and Richard Murnane [12] predict the future of work in America and what it will take for the middle class to succeed. They looked into structural economic changes brought about by technology and saw that in the past three decades …