The Nature of Computational Thinking in Computing Education

Abstract

Computational Thinking has gained popularity in recent years within educational and political discourses. It is more than ever crucial to discuss the term itself and what it means. In June 2017, Denning articulated that computational thinking can be viewed as either “traditional” or “new”. New computational thinking highlights certain skills as desired in solving problems, whereas traditional computational thinking is a skill set resulting from engaging in traditional computing activities. By looking at computational thinking through the perspective of semiotics, it is possible to dissolve the traditional vs new distinction and concentrate on computational thinking having both an explicit and implicit nature. In this perspective, a computer program becomes an algorithmic sign which can both be interpreted by humans and machines. The double interpretation allows for a dialectic relationship between computing activities and Computational Thinking instead of the dualistic traditional vs new approach.