Computational Thinking
From Career Opportunities to "What exactly is Computational Thinking?" take a closer look at what Computational Thinking can offer students today
The Career Opportunity
Computer Science is one of the fastest growing, high-paying career fields in the world.
As computers, programs, apps, microdevices, all play an increasingly critical role in nearly every aspect of society, it becomes that more critical for everyone to have an understanding of the broader field of Computational Thinking – not just so they can create or work with technology, but so they can apply the decades of problems solving approaches developed in Computational Thinking to create solutions to any challenge, in any field.
What is Computational Thinking?
Modern computational thinking is logical problem-solving approach that at its core focuses on:
Decomposition:
Breaking down a problem into more manageable parts and defining what makes for a good solution to the challenge as a whole
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Abstraction:
What information is needed (or not) to solve a problem, and how information influences the problem and solution approaches
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Pattern Recognition & Reuse:
Recognizing similarities between problems, what existing solutions may be adapted or re-used for what benefit and cost
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Algorithm Design:
Develop step-by-step solutions that can potentially also solve other problems with similar characteristics.
Expanding beyond that, today computational thinking also includes how to effectively apply these approaches to solve real-world problems. Hence, the Computational Thinking Institute focuses on all of the 10 skill areas below:​
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Challenge Definition
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Data Analysis
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Performance Definition
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Development & Planning
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Abstraction
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Team Collaboration
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Fundamental Programming Skills
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Communication
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Algorithm Development
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Testing, Analysis, & Debugging
Computational Thinking and Computer Science Together
Computational Thinking often begins with learning how to wisely break down, or decompose, a challenge into more manageable parts while formally defining what makes for a good solution for both the parts and the challenge as a whole. In this process, Computational Thinking also recognizes patterns and/or similarities between current and past problems, abstracting what information is needed (or not) and its influences, and thereby what approaches may be most effective or what existing solutions may be adapted or re-used for what benefit and cost. Then Computational Thinking helps to develop step-by-step solutions, or algorithms, that can potentially not only be used to solve this specific problem but other problems with similar characteristics, even if they are in very different application areas.
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Learning the fundamentals of computer science and computer programming along the way is not only an excellent way to develop and practice Computational Thinking skills but lays the foundation for career paths across a wide variety of industries, from business & finance, to entertainment, to technology development – nearly every industry needs programmers. Even if a student doesn’t become a programmer themselves, the skills covered by the assessment will enable students to better work alongside those who do program, opening the student to an even wider variety of career paths.
The Computational Thinking Assessment also expands upon these fundamentals fostering students to develop the testing and debugging skills needed to go from just understanding the concepts to being someone who can make their solutions work. Similarly, this assessment expands upon the fundamentals laying the foundation for modern hot topics such as data analysis and different development approaches such as the basics of Agile.
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Modern takes on Computational Thinking also include how to effectively utilize these skills while working together in teams, and with this there is an emphasis on how does one describe their ideas to others, making use of tools like flowcharts and pseudocode, and be able to interpret the work of others. Being able to make objective arguments on why one solution approach may be better than another is a just another example of a Computational Thinking related skill that is applicable to nearly every career.