What It Means Keep an eye on the big picture while working out the details of the problem. You don’t want kids that can solve the one problem you’ve given them; you want students who can generalize their thinking. Computer Programming Teaches Students to Generalize Their Thinking: Use Solutions to Simpler Problems to Solve More
What It Means Find patterns and repeated reasoning that can help solve more complex problems. For young students this might be recognizing fact families, inverses, or the distributive property. As students get older, they can break apart problems and numbers into familiar relationships. Computer Programming Teaches Students to Look for Patterns and Make Use of
What It Means Students speak and solve mathematics with exactness and meticulousness. Computer Programming Teaches Students to Attend to Precision Together with Perseverance in Solving Problems (MP #1), Attending to Precision (MP #6) is the most obvious math practice where computer programming applies. Of course, the logic (math) of the algorithm must be precise, or
What It Means Students can select the appropriate math tool to use and use it correctly to solve problems. In the real world, no one tells you that it is time to use the meter stick instead of the protractor. Computer Programming Teaches Students to Be Selective About Tools They Use to Solve Problems Computer
What It Means Use math to solve real-world problems, organize data, and understand the world around you. Computer Programming Prepares Students for Solving Real-World Problems The Karel programming course in NCLab provides many opportunities for students to learn and practice real world skills from various parts of Mathematics. Let’s mention just two examples. Area Under
What It Means Be able to talk about math, using mathematical language, to support or oppose the work of others. Computer Programming Teaches Students to Construct Viable Arguments and Critique the Reasoning of Others The Karel Course requires lots of logical thinking and systematic problem solving. It is the observation of many teachers that students
What It Means Get ready for the words contextualize and decontextualize. If students have a problem, they should be able to break it apart and show it symbolically, with pictures, or in any way other than the standard algorithm. Conversely, if students are working a problem, they should be able to apply the “math work”
What It Means Understand the problem, find a way to attack it, and work until it is done. Basically, you will find practice standard #1 in every math problem, every day. The hardest part is pushing students to solve tough problems by applying what they already know and to monitor themselves when problem-solving. Computer Programming
One of the Math Practice Standards (#5) refers to using appropriate tools strategically. I would like to show that computer programming is excellent at teaching students to do just that. Let me use a simple example. It is Halloween! Karel needs to pick up three eyeballs and enter his home square! Below are six different
We will be presenting NCLab at CUE 2014 in Palm Springs on March 20 – 22, booth #536. If you happen to be there, stop by to say hello. We will be showing cool updates of our computer programming and 3D modeling courses. Karel the Robot now has 15 amazing themes. Shown is “Under the