Programming is unfamiliar to most parents. Ms Erin Yao, Ph.D. in Education, University of Southern California, revealed the great value of programming education.
Ph.D. in Education, University of Southern California, USA. His research topic is "Cultivation of Computational Thinking in Programming Education —— Taking China Programming Education Center as an Example";
12 years working experience in the education industry, once founded in a large training institution and was responsible for the construction and operation of the curriculum and teacher system;
He once taught in Tongji University, Shanghai Normal University and other institutions of higher learning, and was responsible for international curriculum teacher cooperation and school-enterprise cooperation at home and abroad.
I am honored to talk to you about the topic of programming education. I am sincerely happy for those children who are still immersed in the programming world after class. In recent years, China has paid more and more attention to programming, which has become a compulsory course in primary and secondary schools, and the awareness of the whole people to learn programming has also increased year by year.
When I was a Ph.D. student at the University of Southern California, I started a research on the development of programming education in China. The research topic is "Programming Education to Cultivate Computational Thinking —— Taking China Programming Education Center as an Example". Today I will talk to you about the computational thinking behind programming learning.
The concept of computational thinking (CT) was put forward by Zhou Jiaoshou, director of the Computer Science Department of Carnegie Mellon University in 2006 in the authoritative American computer magazine Newsletter of the American Computer Society, which refers to the thinking ability of "solving problems, designing systems, and using the basic concepts of computer science to understand human activities and behaviors". The "calculation" here not only refers to the calculation of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but also involves logical reasoning and problem solving.
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In a narrow sense, computational thinking includes abstract reduction, algorithmic thinking, automatic transformation, decomposition, debugging and induction, emphasizing the re-interpretation of a seemingly difficult problem through heuristic reasoning and systematic planning and solution. Generalized computational thinking ability also includes people's attitude or personality traits such as self-confidence, persistence and cooperative spirit when dealing with complex problems.
About the cultivation of computational thinking, the academic and educational circles all over the world have a wide understanding. Professor Zhou proposed that in addition to traditional analytical skills such as reading, writing and calculating, every child should learn to think in calculation:
Besides reading, writing and arithmetic, we should also add computational thinking to each child's analytical ability.
Among the 2 1 century skills that people need to master in the future, information, media and computer technology are the basic qualities that effective citizens should possess.
Mr. Tao Xingzhi once said: The purpose of education is to solve problems. Learning computational thinking is to solve problems better.
There are also many academic researches on how to cultivate and learn computational thinking, among which programming is one of the most powerful ways to systematically cultivate children's computational thinking ability, which has been demonstrated by many academic research institutes. The advantages of cultivating computational thinking through programming include:
It can make complicated and abstract calculations thinking visualization, making it easier for children to understand.
Through graphical programming tools, children can concentrate on solving problems without spending a lot of energy to memorize specific programming languages;
At the same time, because of its strong graphics and visualization, it is also conducive to cognitive learning;
The improvement of the overall problem-solving ability, through continuous testing and debugging to exercise, provides a good foundation for children to develop comprehensive computing ability.
In addition to the application of computational thinking in programming, children's cognitive ability exercised in programming can be transferred to all aspects of study and life, which can help children improve their learning and cognitive ability as a whole.
In Europe and America, as early as 20 14, 16 countries incorporated computer programming into the school curriculum, and Britain was the first country to incorporate computer programming into the curriculum of public primary and secondary schools. In China, as early as 1997, the Ministry of Education 155 emphasized computer education in universities, and in recent years, it also began to emphasize the establishment of standardized and systematic programming education and its role in cultivating thinking. Therefore, through the world trend and the environment of social development, we can also see that the long-term influence of computational thinking on children has affected national policies, which is a positive thing.
Many brands will emphasize the advanced nature of products and user groups, and work hard on pure technology and marketing, while ignoring education. The concept of brand founder is also out of touch with corporate culture, saying one thing and doing another.
Only STEM provides an active, positive and highly accepted teaching and research culture, and encourages teachers to improve their understanding of computational thinking, including various trainings. In this way, teachers can constantly improve and adjust teaching methods to guide and cultivate children's computational thinking ability in an efficient and interesting way.