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The Learning Place - STEM Resources

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For example, you can make a positive difference to the world by using STEM skills to contribute to research or technological advancements that benefit the global community. Or you can use your STEM know-how to become an innovator or entrepreneur.

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An introduction into what binary number is, what a decimal number is (revision), why binary numbers are important in digital systems and how to read and understand a binary number.

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Introduction to binary | Digital Technologies Hub

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This sequence of lessons focuses on what a binary number is, what a decimal number is, why binary numbers are important in digital systems and how to read and understand a binary number.

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Examine how whole numbers are used to represent all data in digital systems (ACTDIK015).  Lesson plan that enables students to develop an understanding of how computers store and send digital images. They learn how to represent images in a digital format.

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Using binary to create on/off pictures | Digital Technologies Hub

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In this sequence of lessons students develop an understanding of how computers store and send digital images and they are able to represent images in a digital format.

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Electronic snap Circuits. Create projects using snap circuits. Shows students how electricity is used to....

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This site provides an explanation of computational thinking, aimed at primary teachers.  it explains the concepts, approaches to, and importance of computational thinking. It describes the relevance of computational thinking to specific age categories.

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Why is computational thinking important?

Computational thinking and the concepts behind it, form the basis for much of computer science. Computer scientists are interested in finding the most efficient way to solve problems. They want to find the best solution that solves a problem correctly in the fastest way and using the least amount of resources (time / space).

Is this the most efficient way to solve the problem?

Is this the fastest way?

Does it require the least amount of resources?

Does it solve the problem and give the right answer?

Can it be used to solve other problems?

What can you do with computational thinking?

Although computational thinking describes the sort of thinking that computer scientists and software developers engage in, plenty of other people think in this way too, and not just when it comes to using computers. The thinking processes and approaches that help with computing are really useful in many other domains too.

For example, the way a team of software engineers go about creating a new computer game, video editor or social networking platform is really not that different from how you and your colleagues might work together to put on a school play, or to organise an educational visit.

In each case:

you take a complex problem and break it down into smaller problems

it's necessary to work out the steps or rules for getting things done

the complexity of the task needs to be managed, typically by focusing on the key details

the way previous projects have been accomplished can help.

What does computational thinking look like in the primary curriculum?

The national curriculum for computing puts computational thinking right at the heart of its ambition. It states:

A high quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.

There are many ways to develop computational thinking in school beyond the computing curriculum, but as pupils learn to use these in their computing work, you should find that they become better at applying them to other work too.

You will already use computational thinking in many different ways across your school.

When your pupils write stories, you encourage them to plan first: to think about the main events and identify the settings and the characters.

In art, music or design and technology, you will ask pupils to think about what they are going to create and how they will work through the steps necessary for this, by breaking down a complex process into a number of planned phases.

In maths, pupils will identify the key information in a problem before they go on to solve it.

3 - 5 years

There is lots of opportunity to encourage the building blocks of computational thinking at this level. For example, working out how to 'get dressed for winter' involves decomposing the problem and sequencing instructions ( algorithms).

5 - 7 years

Pupils can decompose simple problems and create simple sequences of instructions (algorithms), for example, explaining the steps to grow a plant from seed. They may be able to label the parts of a flower ( decomposition), and check with a partner to see if their work is correct ( collaborative debugging and evaluation).

7 - 11 years

As pupils progress they demonstrate increasing levels of computational thinking as their cognitive ability develops. They can decompose to a more detailed level, design more complex algorithms, spot patterns and use abstraction more easily, for example creating programs to draw geometric patterns or crystal flowers and creating simulations.

Computational thinking approaches become more familiar as pupils use increased perseverance to debug problems and work collaboratively with their peers more easily.

Older pupils may work collaboratively on projects such as creating an animation of the Viking invasion which involves much computational thinking.

Note: whilst programming is an important part of the new curriculum, it would be wrong to see this as an end in itself. Rather, it's through the practical experience of programming that the insights of computational thinking can best be developed.

Computational thinking shouldn't be seen as just a new name for 'problem-solving skills'. It does help to solve problems and it has wide applications across other disciplines, but it's most obviously apparent, and probably most effectively learned, through the rigorous, creative processes of writing code.

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Computational Thinking - Barefoot Computing

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Why is computational thinking important? Computational thinking and the concepts behind it, form the basis for much of computer science. Computer scientists are interested in finding the most efficient way to solve problems. They want to find the best solution that solves a problem correctly in the fastest way and using the least amount of resources (time / space).

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Digital Technologies: Sequence of Content