Promoting computational thinking in K-9 education
Föreläsare: Dr Linda Mannila, Linköpings universitet och Åbo Akademi, Åbo, Finland
Titel: Promoting computational thinking in K-9 education
Seminariet kommer också att sändas online via Adobe Connect, https://connect.sunet.se/mt_ak
Abstract
Technology, computers and software are becoming increasingly pervasive in our society, influencing all aspects of life. Consequently, it has been argued that basic understanding of the digital world is an important part of general knowledge in the 21st century.
Countries all over the world are updating policy documents and renewing their national curricula in order to place larger emphasis on digital competence. The main goal of these changes is not to prepare all students to become IT professionals, but rather to help students develop skills and attitudes that aid in solving increasingly complex and interdisciplinary problems as well as creating new things with the help of computers and other technology. This is commonly called computational thinking – a concept coined by Papert, further developed by Wing and today operationalised in different ways for use in early education.
Some of the questions to be addressed in the seminar are:
- How can computational thinking be defined?
- What is the connection between computational thinking and programming?
- How can we support teachers in promoting computational thinking in K-9 education?
Moreover, I will describe some concrete examples of the projects I am currently involved in order to ilustrate how the questions above have been used to guide these activities.
Om Linda Mannila
Linda Mannila received her PhD in Computer Science (specialisation in Computer Science Education) from Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland, in 2009. She currently works as a project leader at Åbo Akademi University and as a visiting researcher at Linköping University.
Her main research interests focus on digital competence, computational thinking and maker culture in K-9 education. In 2014, she led an international working group on computational thinking in K-9 education, and in 2015, she co-led a similar group focusing on core concepts for K-9 computer science education.
Mannila currently leads four projects related to computational thinking and programming related to Finnish basic education (PROFFS, DigiSmart, Slöjd 2.0 and MAKE). She also develops and arranges teacher training courses on programming and digital competence. She has been involved in the development of the curriculum revisions in both Finland and Sweden, and co-arranges the Bebras problem solving challenge in Finland.
Mannila has founded the non-profit organization Make It Finland, promoting digital competence among families, elderly and other groups, aiming at giving all Finnish people similar possibilities to understand the digital world regardless of age, gender, ethnicity and other factors.