It’s Computational Thinking! Bebras tasks in the...
Transcript of It’s Computational Thinking! Bebras tasks in the...
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It’s Computational Thinking! Bebras tasks in the curriculum
Valentina Dagiene, University of Vilnius
Sue Sentance, King’s College London
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Bebras - International Challenge on Informatics and Computational Thinking”
• Award-winning, international contest/challenge
• Running since 2004
• Now in 50+ countries
• Primary and secondary aged students participate
• Tasks should be solved in 3 minutes
• Tasks should relate to informatics/computer science concepts
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Computing in the curriculum
• Computing/computer science/informatics being introduced in many countries
• Computational thinking is increasingly a major focus
• There is a need for teacher CPD
• There is a need for resources around assessment for learning
• Resources exist and we should not be inventing the wheel
Where does come in?
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Computing in the curriculum (contd)
Computational thinking
• Has become a major focus in the delivery of Computing
• BUT teachers may not understand what it is
• AND can be difficult to exemplify
Assessment
• Focus on resources and subject knowledge professional development may lead to assessment being neglected
• Assessment for learning provides feedback to students on their progress and aids learning
Bebras
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Our rationale
Bebras – as enrichment• One week a year
• 45 minutes to take
• Engage students with informatics
• Show links between tasks and puzzles and serious computer science/informatics
Bebras – as curriculum content
• All-year round
• Find tasks relating to a topic/area of CT
• Add engaging assessment to a topic
• Exemplification of computational thinking skills
• Provides teacher CPD
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In this presentation
• Operational definitions of computational thinking
• Bebras tasks which exemplify aspects of computational thinking
• Bebras tasks which exemplify aspects of the curriculum
• Where next?
• Conclusion
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What is Computational Thinking?CSTA/ISTA operational definition of CT:
• Formulating problems in a way that enables us to use a computer and other tools to help solve them
• Logic and predicting analytics
• Data organizing and analysing.
• Representing data through abstractions such as models and simulations.
• Automating solutions through algorithmic thinking (a series of ordered steps).
• Identifying, analysing, and implementing possible solutions with the goal of achieving the most efficient and effective combination of steps and resources.
• Generalizing and transferring this problem solving process to a wide variety of problems.
ISTE & CSTA (2011)
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CT in curriculum in England
• Abstraction
• Algorithmic thinking
• Decomposition
• Evaluation
• Generalisation
(Selby & Woollard, 2013)
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CT and Bebras tasks – some examples
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Algorithmic thinking – Crane operating
To solve the problem, the student needs to execute a sequence of instructions – ie an algorithm
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Abstraction – Walnut animal
Abstraction means hiding unnecessary details in order to solve the problem.
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Decomposition - Stack Computer
In this task decomposition is required to break up the task and to deal with one section at a time.
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Evaluation - Bracelet
To solve this problem it is necessary to evaluate the four options and consider which fits the original bracelet.
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Generalisation – Mobiles
Generalisation is associated with identifying patterns, similarities and connections, and exploiting those features. It is a way of quickly solving new problems based on previous solutions to problems, and building on prior experience. (Csizmadia et al, 2015)
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Curriculum topics
Bebras tasks can also be linked to the curriculum based on the topic under consideration:
• Algorithms and programming
• Data, data structures and representation
• Computer architecture and processes
• Communications and networking
• Interaction, systems and society
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Data structures – Biber hotel
This Beaver Den is structured like a binary tree so going left takes you to a lower numbered room and right takes you to a higher numbered room. Because the den is organised in this way it becomes easy to find the correct room once you realise this.
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Logical operators – Dream Dress
Logical operators are used in algorithms and in programming. To solve the problem an understanding of AND is needed
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Networks - Spies
This problem relates to communication within a network and discussing it can be linked to the problems that computer scientists have around establishing efficient methods for communication
Question
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What next?
• To support teachers wishing to use Bebras tasks as part of the curriculum they need to be categorised so appropriate tasks can be easily found with useful explanations for the teacher.
• We are continuing to propose a classification in conjunction with the Bebras community (in a more detailed paper)
• We hope that countries can use the classification to label and sort their existing Bebras tasks and make available to teachers for activities in lessons, perhaps adapted for pedagogical use.
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Conclusion and key messages
• Bebras tasks cover a range of computational thinking skills
• They also are linked to particular informatics topics
• Teachers who can access the appropriate ones for their teaching can use them in the curriculum
• Bebras tasks can be a useful assessment for learning tool as feedback and explanations can help the learners to progress.