Thinking like a computer but not acting like one…

​This week in code club participants began learning about computational thinking and how thinking like a computer helps with coding. Computational thinking can be broken down in to four steps:
Abstraction—Removing details from a solution so that it can work for many problems
Algorithm—A list of steps that allow you to complete a task
Decompose—To break a hard problem up into smaller, easier ones
Pattern—A theme that is repeated many times Program—Instructions that can be understood and followed by a machine
 
The activity for this week was to look at a number on Monsters, categorise the monsters with what they have in common e.g. Same eyes, then abstract the ones that are different Eg. Different eyes and final create step-by-step instructions on how to create a monster with the monsters in each category. After the instructions were written, participants were then asked to test these instructions to see if they could be easily followed. With a bit of adjustment to the instructions, the room was then filled with some amazing artwork.