Exploring Computational Thinking
Google is committed to promoting computational thinking throughout the K-12 curriculum to support student learning and expose everyone to this 21st century skill.
What is Computational Thinking? Computational thinking (CT) involves a set of problem-solving skills and techniques that software engineers use to write programs that underlie the computer applications you use such as search, email, and maps. Here are specific techniques.
- Decomposition: When we taste an unfamiliar dish and identify several ingredients based on the flavor, we are decomposing that dish into its individual ingredients.
- Pattern Recognition: People look for patterns in stock prices to decide when to buy and sell.
- Pattern Generalization and Abstraction: A daily planner uses abstraction to represent a week in terms of days and hours, helping us to organize our time.
- Algorithm Design: When a chef writes a recipe for a dish, she is creating an algorithm that others can follow to replicate the dish.
CT Models in K-12 Curriculum
Several committed teacher-contributors in collaboration with Google engineers have put together classroom-ready lessons and examples showing how educators can incorporate CT into the K-12 curriculum. Click below to browse materials by subject:
Resources for Educators
Get started on building your own CT curriculum with these starter materials and related resources. For more resources or to join in a CT-related discussion with other educators, visit our moderated ECT Discussion Forums.
Conrad Wolfram does a TED talk about teaching kids real math
Conrad Wolfram says the part of math we teach -- calculation by hand -- isn't just tedious, it's mostly irrelevant to real mathematics and the real world. He presents his radical idea: teaching kids math through computer programming.