A set of commands, instructions, and symbols that humans can manipulate in order to communicate with computers.
Published in Chapter:
Rhyme and Reason: The Connections Among Coding, Computational Thinking, and Literacy
Madhu Govind (Tufts University, USA), Ziva Reimer Hassenfeld (Brandeis University, USA), and Laura de Ruiter (Tufts University, USA)
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 23
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-7308-2.ch005
Abstract
The chapter begins with an exploration of computational thinking (CT) and its relationship to computational literacy, followed by a summary of theoretical and empirical work that aims to elucidate the connections among coding, CT, and literacy. The authors argue that these connections thus far have been predominantly one of support (i.e., unidirectional) and motivated by technological and policy advances, as opposed to considering the connections as mutually reinforcing and developmentally coaligned. The authors discuss the coding as another language (CAL) pedagogical approach, a pedagogy that presents learning to program as akin to learning how to use a new language for communicative and expressive functions, emphasizing the bidirectional connections between the two domains. Finally, the authors detail various curricula that use the CAL approach and discuss the implications of CAL for teaching and learning in early childhood.