Hadi PartoviVerified account

Originally, Jeannette sold Computational Thinking as "If you learn CT, you learn things that you can apply in your everyday life." I don't think many of us believe that anymore.

Now, we say that "You can learn by using computation in ways different and more powerful than without computation." That's what @LorenaABarba was saying here quite powerfully, and I think most of us agree with that. http://lorenabarba.com/blog/computational-thinking-i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means/ …

But why do we say "CT" instead of computation, or coding, or programming, or even computer science? Is the real reason that people are afraid of the word "programming," and are still unsure that we can teach programming to everyone?

In the 2000s, research showed that “coding” or “programming” scared away groups who were underrepresented in CS. I hope the CSEd community celebrates that we’re collectively beating this challenge. In fact, the top student complaint I hear about CSP or ECS is “not enough coding”

I hear this complaint about CSP as well but I wonder if it is because of misperceptions about what CS is really all about.

That’s entirely possible. Regardless, “fear of coding” is less of a factor each year. Today’s HS students have increasingly tried block-based coding while young, many want to graduate to something more mature.

I often wonder how much block based coding is having an impact on 'more mature' versions of programming. Would kids getting trained to drag and drop take to text and line based concepts just as enthusiastically?