Computational Thinking Strands

Computational Thinking Strands

1. Thinking Abstractly

   • Removing all the excess details so that you are only left with the key necessities, working out what is important
   • In progrming it is simplifying a problem to understand how to better solve it
     • +This gives you a core or clear and achievable end goal for your program
   • +It makes problems feel more manageable because you have less information to process
   • A tube map is an abstraction of the London underground
     • ---->
   • - You could loose too much detail, allowing yourself to loose the end goal of the task

2. Thinking Ahead

   • Working out what is required before starting a task
     • This is also called Caching
   • In programming this is working out what a program will need (eg inputs, functions, a specific database)
     • +This creates a clearer image of what needs to be done to complete the program
       • +as well as decreasing the time it will take to program
   • -The problem is that you can not move past this stage until all data has been collected
   • An example could be working out how much paint is needed before painting a wall
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3. Thinking Procedurally

   • Breaking a problem down
     • Working out sub-problems and making an order of events
   • In programming this could be separating the code into separate functions and procedures
   • An example could be making a cooking recipe and mixing dry ingredients and wet ingredients separatley
     • ----->
   • -This may not work as well with object oriented programming

4. Thinking Logically

   • Looking at the problem more in depth
   • In programming it is identifying decision points or working out steps after certain decision choices
   • +This allows for a better understanding of the complexity of the program or solution being created
   • This help to start looking closer at the plan, working out what exactly must go into each sub-section
   • An example could be making a flowchart or writing pseudo code to map out a program
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5. Thinking Concurrently

   • Things happening at the same time
     • Working out what can be done by multitasking
   • In programming this could be getting two programmers to work on sepoerate functions of the same code
   • +This speed up the task
   • -It could get confusing
     • -The problem may not be one that can be done with multitasking
   • An example of this could be boiling water and getting milk for tea at the same time
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