Computing is not all about sitting behind a screen. Being 'unplugged' from them can help us to comprehend how the purpose of computing, its algorithms and function in every day life.
In an early lecture we were given a maze in groups of 2. One person had to be blindfolded, whilst the other person dictated instructions like forward, backwards, left, right and tried to navigate the other around the maze without touching the walls. through this it was demonstrated the importance of clear instructions, to mirror how a computer works pragmatically. The exercise is one that can be used with primary children, in order to help them understand computational thinking.
In both my EYFS placement and my GPP I have discussed similar principles when using the bee bots. I have compared how a bee bot moves to the idea of giving somebody an instruction. In GPP I had children navigating the other person before even touching the bee bot so that they could understand develop this idea of computational thinking. This was very effective as children could link how a person moves to an instruction how the beat bot moves. In summary unplugged computational thinking is a great (and cost effective) method of challenging children to think about how the technology in front of them is working to assist them.
In an early lecture we were given a maze in groups of 2. One person had to be blindfolded, whilst the other person dictated instructions like forward, backwards, left, right and tried to navigate the other around the maze without touching the walls. through this it was demonstrated the importance of clear instructions, to mirror how a computer works pragmatically. The exercise is one that can be used with primary children, in order to help them understand computational thinking.
In both my EYFS placement and my GPP I have discussed similar principles when using the bee bots. I have compared how a bee bot moves to the idea of giving somebody an instruction. In GPP I had children navigating the other person before even touching the bee bot so that they could understand develop this idea of computational thinking. This was very effective as children could link how a person moves to an instruction how the beat bot moves. In summary unplugged computational thinking is a great (and cost effective) method of challenging children to think about how the technology in front of them is working to assist them.