Computational thinking

 In education, computational thinking is a set of problem-solving methods that involve expressing problems and their solutions in ways that a computer could also execute 

Skills
• Decomposition: Breaking down data, processes, or problems into
smaller, manageable parts
• Pattern Recognition: Observing patterns, trends, and regularities in data
• Abstraction: Making a problem more understandable by reducing
unnecessary detail.
• Algorithm Design: Developing the step by step instructions for solving
this and similar problems
• Evaluation: Ensuring that your solution is a good one.
Attitudes
• Confident: believing in one's own ability to solve problems
• Communicative: willing and able to communicate effectively with
others.
• Flexible: able to deal with change and open-ended problems
Approaches
• Tinkering: experimenting and playing
• Creating: designing and making
• Debugging: finding and fixing errors
• Persevering: keeping going
• Collaborating: working together
Teaching decomposition to young learners means that students are invited into problem-solving scenarios. Teachers share the complex, multi-step problem and facilitate conversations that help students to break it down. While students at these ages are not always developmentally ready for multi-step directions or problems, they are ready to be exposed to models of adult thinking. In doing this, students begin to develop a framework of strategic, computational thinking. Pattern recognition, as a cornerstone of computational thinking, begins with the basic ABAB pattern creation that is taught in the primary grades and extends to more complex layers of thinking. Pattern recognition invites students to analyze similar objects or experiences and identify commonalities. By finding what the objects or experiences have in common, young students can begin to develop an understanding of trends and are therefore able to make predictionsComputational thinking allows students to be active, rather than passive, users of technology. Understanding how devices work allows us to approach technology as a partner to help us solve problems. Computational thinking will become a significant differentiator in the 21st-century workforce.