A trip for seven friends
You plan a trip to a football match for seven friends. There is a lot to do.
You need tickets. You need a bus. You need to know who pays. Everybody wants a different seat.
Where do you start? Programmers have a way to think about a big problem like this. Computational thinking is the name for it.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Computational thinking | A way to solve a problem so that a computer can help. | plan the trip in clear parts |
| Decomposition | Break a big problem into small parts. | tickets, bus, money |
| Pattern recognition | Find things that repeat or look alike. | every friend needs a ticket |
| Abstraction | Keep the details that matter. Leave out the rest. | a bus map shows roads, not trees |
| Algorithm | A list of clear steps that solves a problem. | a recipe |
| Problem | Something we want to do or fix. | get seven friends to a match |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
What it is and why we use it
Computational thinking is a way to solve a problem in clear steps. A computer, or a person, can follow the steps.
Its purpose is to make a big, confusing problem easy to understand. We can then write a program to solve it. It also lets a team share the work, and you find mistakes before you write any code.
It has four parts. They are listed in the next picture.
The four parts on the football trip
| Part | The question it asks | On the trip |
|---|---|---|
| Decomposition | What are the smaller jobs? | Tickets, bus, money, food |
| Pattern recognition | What repeats? Have I done this before? | Each friend needs a ticket and a seat. I booked a bus for a school trip last year. |
| Abstraction | What do I need to know? What can I ignore? | Need: names, seats, prices. Ignore: the colour of the bus. |
| Algorithmic design | What are the steps, in order? | 1 Count the friends. 2 Book tickets. 3 Book the bus. 4 Collect money. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Quick check: which part is it?
Have a go
Quick check: which part is it?
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
When to use it
Use computational thinking when a problem is big, new or has many parts. Use it when more than one person works on it. Use it when a computer will do the work.
You do not need all four parts for a tiny job. Adding 2 and 3 needs no plan.
Is it worth it?
Have a go
Is it worth it?
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.