October 2021
Opening Activity
Computational Thinking
Thinking about the activity above, how did you go about making decisions about each example? Did you apply any of the Computational Thinking concepts listed below? Which ones? Were any more important than others?
Computational Thinking - Abstraction
"Focus on what is important"
Using abstraction when solving problems can make the process much easier. By focusing only on the most important aspects and weeding out the trivial components of a problem, you can find solutions much quicker.
Abstraction in Action
Using Google Quick, Draw forces you to focus on only the important aspects of an object.
This fun activity can be a great discussion starter with your students to help them understand this important concept in problem solving.
Questions to Ask Students
How can we simplify this problem or task?
What information is most important for solving this problem or task?
What information can we ignore in solving this problem or task?
How can we clearly represent the important information?