Type: Taxonomy Development
Purpose: The purpose of this article was two fold. First, the authors discuss the designing of an authentic computational thinking curriculum focused on real-world problems. Secondly, the issue of addressing a framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) that teachers need to have and be able to use in their classrooms to teach computational thinking in K-6 classrooms.
Findings: A computational thinking curriculum framework was devised for grades K-6. The framework incorporated 5 computational thinking skills (e.g., abstraction, generalization, decomposition, algorithmic thinking, and debugging) into a progression from simple to complex across grade level (e.g., K-2, 3-4, & 5-6). Additionally, an extension of the framework of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) was discussed and expanded to Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). Within this framework, technology is at the center with five distinct knowledge bases (e.g., content knowledge, knowledge of educational context, pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of learners, and technology knowledge) as supports. The authors also provided an example of a teacher preparation course that was designed to promote teachers' TPCK.
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