Abstract

The difficulty in teaching computational thinking lies in both the attitudes and knowledge of relevant learning strategies held by teachers. A lack of consensus around strategies to teach computational thinking compounds both the need to address teacher professional development and design of relevant strategies and activities. To address this particular challenge, this best practice explores the design of a Middle School Coding camp, specifically how an in-service teacher enrolled in a graduate endorsement program designed an informal learning strand with the Trashbots robotics kit to target creativity development. Despite a logical assumption that algorithmic thinking must follow rigid procedures, computational logical is not to the exclusion of creativity.

Citation

Harris, C., Dousay, T.A., Hall, C., Srinivasan, S. & Srinivasan, R. (2020). Trashbots: Coding with creativity in a middle grades computer science camp. In D. Schmidt-Crawford (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 1133-1136). Online: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved April 2, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/215872/.

© 2020 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

Keywords

• Creativity