Defining Computational Thinking for Mathematics and Science Classrooms

• Published in: Journal of science education and technology Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 127 - 147
• Main Authors: Weintrop, David, Beheshti, Elham, Horn, Michael, Orton, Kai, Jona, Kemi, Trouille, Laura, Wilensky, Uri
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Science+Business Media LLC 01.02.2016; Springer Netherlands; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic Standards; Classrooms; Computation; Computational modeling; Computer applications; Computer science; Computer science education; Computer simulation; Data Analysis; Definitions; Education; Educational Technology; Embedding; High School Students; Instructional materials; Mathematical analysis; Mathematical concepts; Mathematical Models; Mathematics; Mathematics Education; Mathematics Skills; Physics; Problem Solving; Science; Science Education; Science learning; Science Process Skills; Scientists; Secondary School Mathematics; Secondary School Science; STEM education; Systems Approach; Taxonomy; Thinking Skills; Modeling and simulation; Computational problem solving; Computational thinking; STEM education; Systems thinking; High school mathematics and science education; Scientific practices
• ISSN: 1059-0145; 1573-1839
• DOI: 10.1007/s10956-015-9581-5

Science and mathematics are becoming computational endeavors. This fact is reflected in the recently released Next Generation Science Standards and the decision to include "computational thinking" as a core scientific practice. With this addition, and the increased presence of computation in mathematics and scientific contexts, a new urgency has come to the challenge of defining computational thinking and providing a theoretical grounding for what form it should take in school science and mathematics classrooms. This paper presents a response to this challenge by proposing a definition of computational thinking for mathematics and science in the form of a taxonomy consisting of four main categories: data practices, modeling and simulation practices, computational problem solving practices, and systems thinking practices. In formulating this taxonomy, we draw on the existing computational thinking literature, interviews with mathematicians and scientists, and exemplary computational thinking instructional materials. This work was undertaken as part of a larger effort to infuse computational thinking into high school science and mathematics auricular materials. In this paper, we argue for the approach of embedding computational thinking in mathematics and science contexts, present the taxonomy, and discuss how we envision the taxonomy being used to bring current educational efforts in line with the increasingly computational nature of modern science and mathematics.