Reflecting on teaching computational thinking:
How did the unplugged maze activity help reinforce computational thinking skills before introducing coding?
How can you integrate computational thinking into other subjects or problem-solving activities in your classroom?
What challenges might students face with computational thinking, and how can unplugged activities support their understanding?
These questions are just starting points for reflection and discussion—there’s no need to answer all of them. Focus on the ones that resonate most with your teaching experience and goals.
Using the unplugged activity with the maze let me focus on what I needed the computer to do, not how I was going to make it do that.
I am already using this type of thinking in cooking and sewing activities daily.
Students may feel like the problem is too large when they don’t use the computational thinking.
Challenges students might face with computational thinking and how unplugged activities can support their understanding is if they don’t see a clear connection between the unplugged activity and computational thinking practice term. Often times students enjoy the fun aspect of unplugged but miss out on the connection the unplugged is making to the vocabulary or concept. As teachers we need to ask questions and monitor student engagement as they do the unplugged to make sure they are seeing the connection, or help students along they way if they don’t.