Do you know how to think like a computer? In computer science classes, our lower school students learn to take a complex problem, break it down and focus on key ideas and information in order to solve the problem, just like a computer, but on a much smaller scale.
At Latin, students gain computational thinking skills at a young age, which expand significantly through their time at the school. Computational thinking is a thought process around organizing problems in a strategic, organized way. In the lower school, students learn how to break down a big problem and then think through ways to solve that problem, building skills and a solid foundation for working through real-world challenges as they get older.
First grade computer science students explore how to build circuits with a tool called littleBits. Students are provided a power bit, an input, such as buttons, slide dimmers, proximity sensors and temperature sensors, as well as an output like buzzers, lights, motors and fans. They use computational thinking skills to create a circuit that makes the output work properly by understanding how energy flows through the necessary components all connected together.
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