While working on my thesis proposal, I looked into this article about teaching computational thinking (How to Teach Computational Thinking). The author says that there are two skeptical assumptions about teaching computational thinking to kids. First, the kids would just get too confused with syntax while typing in raw code. Second, the kids wouldn’t be motivated to do anything with code unless it led to creating a game. However, the author argues otherwise. The author argues that kids seem to find it easy to type in raw code. Also, what motivates the kids is that the kids can immediately do something real with it….and (in my opinion) game is a plus!
What is computational thinking? Jeannette M. Wing defines it as “the thought processes involved in formulating a problem and expressing its solution(s) in such a way that a computer—human or machine—can effectively carry out.”