Teaching programming based on Computational Thinking

Abstract

Computational Thinking was an important way to study computer science and it explained the relationships between human, calculation and computer in terms of thinking. The computer science was raised from the theory of tools to the height of thinking. This paper introduced three levels of Computational Thinking: Computational Thinking in computer science, Computational Thinking in computing science and Computational Thinking in all subjects and analyzed the thinking characteristic of calculation and the calculation attribute of thinking. Through Computational Thinking, human can solve problems by using computer more efficiently. Therefore, the cultivation of Computational Thinking's ability was particularly important in teaching. But Computational Thinking cannot be taught without carrier and the programing course was the best way for they were closely related with each other. The paper took the Maze Problem as an example to express the differences between human and computer in the aspects of storage structure, thinking mode, solving procedure, etc. and it compared the human brain's multi-dimension and multi-forms characteristics with the computer's ne-dimension and one-form characteristics. The paper thought the goal of teaching was not to learn knowledge itself, but to form problem solving thinking.