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Principles of Computational Thinking Tools

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Emerging Research, Practice, and Policy on Computational Thinking

Abstract

Computational Thinking is a fundamental skill for the twenty-first century workforce. This broad target audience, including teachers and students with no programming experience, necessitates a shift in perspective toward Computational Thinking Tools that not only provide highly accessible programming environments but explicitly support the Computational Thinking Process. This evolution is crucial if Computational Thinking Tools are to be relevant to a wide range of school disciplines including STEM, art, music, and language learning. Computational Thinking Tools must help users through three fundamental stages of Computational Thinking: problem formulation, solution expression, and execution/evaluation. This chapter outlines three principles, and employs AgentCubes online as an example, on how a Computational Thinking Tool provides support for these stages by unifying human abilities with computer affordances.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Hasler Foundation and the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers 0833612, 1345523, and 0848962. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these foundations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW, Windisch, 5210, Switzerland

    Alexander Repenning & Nora A. Escherle

  2. Department of Mathematics and Computer Information Systems, SUNY Old Westbury, Old Westbury, NY, 11568, USA

    Ashok R. Basawapatna

Authors
  1. Alexander Repenning
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  2. Ashok R. Basawapatna
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  3. Nora A. Escherle
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander Repenning .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. 150K MCKB, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

    Peter J. Rich

  2. Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA

    Charles B. Hodges

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Repenning, A., Basawapatna, A.R., Escherle, N.A. (2017). Principles of Computational Thinking Tools. In: Rich, P., Hodges, C. (eds) Emerging Research, Practice, and Policy on Computational Thinking. Educational Communications and Technology: Issues and Innovations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52691-1_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52691-1_18

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52691-1

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