Computational Thinking

Explanation

Computational thinking and Twenty-first Century skills is extremely important to

teach our students in our digital age. It is necessary to both teach our content areas
and to teach skills that can be applied in our ever changing world. Computational
thinking can be applied to all subjects and especially in the study of history, my
teaching area and subject matter. In teaching history, creating informative and
engaging material can sometimes be a challenge. Computational thinking, when
applied can make lessons and learning activities both engaging and informative,
bringing history to life. It can also teach and reinforce Twenty-First Century skills
such as critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, information
literacy, technology skills and digital literacy . Computational thinking is
important in both instruction and with building historical skills and analysis. In
instruction, relevance is very important to both capture the students attention and
to make it applicable and relevant to modern times. Teaching and using
computational thinking can be used when giving real life examples using
technology, then having students turn and talk about what is being taught.
Learning history discusses real world problems and involves solving local and
global issues. Even when discussing ancient history, we find that we very much
face some of the same issues and that we have a duty to both learn from the past to
not repeat history in our modern age and in the future. In learning activities,
students can use computational thinking to learn the material such as the two
examples I have listed below, building a 3-d Model and the Scramble for Africa
Simulation. Both these activities involve learning rich content and using
computational thinking to more deeply understand the material. These lessons can
be easily applied to different units, lessons and learning activities and across to
different courses in history.

Lesson plans Using Computational Thinking

1. Designing Greek Monuments in 3-D link to lesson link - Although I do not
teach Ancient Greece, I could apply this lesson to Medieval Europe when
discussing the building and architecture designs of cathedrals.
2. The Scramble for Africa link- This can very much be applied when I discuss
mercantilism and colonization. Instead of playing the Mercantilism Game, I
will use this simulation using technology.