Teaching Computational Thinking by Playing Games and Building Robots

Computing in schools has gained momentum in the last two years resulting in GCSEs in Computing and teachers looking to up skill from Digital Literacy (ICT). For many students the subject of computer science concerns software code but writing code can be challenging, due to specific requirements on syntax and spelling with new ways of thinking required. Not only do many undergraduate students lack these ways of thinking, but there is a general misrepresentation of computing in education. Were computing taught as a more serious subject like science and mathematics, public understanding of the complexities of computer systems would increase, enabling those not directly involved with IT make better informed decisions and avoid incidents such as overbudget and underperforming systems. We present our exploration into teaching a variety of computing skills, most significantly "computational thinking", to secondary-school age children through three very different engagements. First, we discuss Printcraft, in which participants learn about computer-aided design and additive manufacturing by designing and building a miniature world from scratch using the popular open-world game Minecraft and 3D printers. Second, we look at how students can get a new perspective on familiar technology with a workshop using AppInventor, a graphical Android programming environment. Finally, we look at an ongoing after school robotics club where participants face a number of challenges of their own making as they design and create a variety of robots using a number of common tools such as Scratch and Arduino.