[no audio] - Hello, my name is Holly Ackerman, and I am an early childhood education specialist with KET.

And today, we're gonna talk a little bit about computational thinking in early elementary.

So I just wanna talk really briefly about where this work is coming from and kind of what we're doing.

So this is upcoming from the Ready to Learn grant.

So I'm gonna give a very brief overview of the Ready to Learn grant.

There is lots of information out on the web that you can find if you're interested in learning more about the Ready to Learn grant.

So the Ready to Learn grant is a cooperative agreement that is with the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

They also work with PBS KIDS, who in turn, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS KIDS works with PBS stations across the nation to carry out this work.

So what we get a chance to do is we get a chance to help co-design, help develop lots of new resources for both family engagement, for in classroom use for lots of different reasons and lots of different things.

And we get a chance to pilot them in our own community so that the end result, those resources then live on PBS LearningMedia, so educators across the nation can access them and use them at any time.

The really intent and purpose of how and why the Ready To Learn grant started, it started actually over 20 years ago at this point now, and it really was focused in on helping promote early learning and school readiness.

So looking at those particular populations that need some extra support.

So when you think about the history of PBS and how PBS got started and how public television got started, it was all in the thought process of helping support those learners who need maybe some extra support.

So in throughout this, we're working on finding recent and best practices, looking at all of the research to help develop these particular resources and support teachers and family.

So who is the target audience for the Ready to Learn grant?

Well, the Ready to Learn grant is really looking at or focusing on that, those children kind of ages two to eight.

In this particular round of the Ready to Learn grant, we're also focusing not only on in classroom educators or grownups and caregivers of children two to eight, but we're also thinking about home-based providers.

How can they best utilize these resources?

What would that look like in their setting?

As well as out-of-school providers or out-of-school educators.

So maybe that's a library or an afterschool program or something like that.

Or actually anywhere that serves children.

So home-visiting programs, food pantries, what kind of activities and support can we give them to help support and help their children in their communities?

So thinking about each round of the Ready to Learn grant has several different learning priorities, but for this particular presentation, I'm really gonna focus in on the computational thinking.

So when we think about computational thinking, the definition that is given is a logical and strategic way of thinking.

So really a very kind of linear way of thinking.

But what this says is, is this really helps to provide and promote problem-solving, critical thinking skills, flexible mindset, and habits of mind.

So that thinking about if something doesn't work the first time, then maybe we need to go back, look at the steps, where did we go wrong?

How can we fix that?

And then also the collaboration between all the educators.

So this really helps them to navigate and accomplish lots of different tasks through these problem-solving techniques.

So what is computational thinking?

I know when I first heard this term several years ago, I thought, "What in the world?"

And then when I learned about the concept, I thought, "Okay, how in the world is this going to apply children two to eight?"

There's just, it seems a little complicated, right?

So let's take a look.

I'm only gonna give you just a second, but I want you to really think about, what do all these have in common?

So I'm gonna give you about 10 seconds to think about that.

[no audio] So you may have guessed [laughs] that every single one of these activities require computational thinking or you're using computational thinking skills to complete any of these tasks here.

And these tasks, the tasks that we all do all the time.

And so what we want to really encourage is families and children to think about that there are lots of ways that, and that you're already using these computational thinking skills.

For example, when you're making a recipe and you're wanting to make it a little bit better, you're using the design process.

So I know that when I do that, a lot of times I'll find a recipe online, I'll make it the exact way that I'm supposed to, follow those instructions verbatim, or you know, step by step exactly.

But then once I get it, maybe I wanna make some minor tweaks the next time I make it.

So maybe I add a little more of something or a little less than something.

So I'm kind of making it, that becomes an iterative process that you just keep making it until you get it the way that you want to.

When you replace your batteries, because they're not working, you're using a computational thinking skill called debugging.

So you have figured out there's a problem, "My remote's not working, it's not turning the volume up, or it's not turning the TV on," or whatever it's supposed to do.

So you figured out a problem, then you're working about in a systematic way to figure out what's going on.

Is it that the batteries were in there incorrectly?

Is it that the batteries were dead?

Or whatever the case may be.

And then the same thing when you're running errands and you're thinking about how you're going to plan out that route across town to make sure that you get to wherever you need to, you're gonna be thinking about sequencing.

So you're gonna be thinking about doing that in a way that uses a less amount of gas.

I know like where I live here in Lexington, Kentucky, I don't wanna draw it all the way to the north side of town, go to the south side of town and then have to go back and forth the whole time.

It can take 35 minutes or better just to get from one side of town to the other.

So I'm really gonna be thinking about, "How can I sequence my errands around town so that I am doing it in a way that is going to keep me from going all over town?"

So in thinking about that, we are talking about that computational way or computational thinking is a way that supports self-expression.

It supports that thinking about wide variety and navigate the possibilities.

And then understanding is, is that there's more than one way to do things.

So when we're thinking about processes, sometimes order matters, sometimes order does not matter.

So it really just depends on what we're doing as if it matters or not.

It really does help us, computational thinking helps us navigate possibilities, helps us provide solutions and accomplish tasks, sorry, tasks and processes.

Now, the idea of computational thinking or the skills of computational thinking really originates in the field of computer science, because if you think about it in that particular field, order matters, right?

So I know that I've learned to use a computer a long time ago.

My dad worked for IBM, so I learned to use a computer.

And then doing that, when I would have to, this was long before Windows existed, you would have to put in the computer.

I remember, you could put in, it had a little booklet that showed me all of the programming in order to get Charlie Chaplin to ice skate across my screen.

So if I didn't put something in the right way, then that really did impact and it didn't happen.

So I had to go back and figure out, where did I mess up?

Where do I need to fix that kind of situation?

So computational thinking does that, but it's not only, as you could see in that previous slide, computational thinking isn't something that is exclusive to computer science.

And learning to think about things in this way really helps support children development in a wide variety of, wide varieties of ways.

So you can see this is a graphic that was developed through the Ready to Learn grant, and it really just talks about thinking about computational thinking.

So that mindset down there is that critical thinking is that flexible mindset.

And on top of all of that, we've got the different parts of computational thinking.

So algorithms, that's really is, that process, one to one, two, three, very logical in thinking.

Decomposition and modularity.

So how do we fit things together?

Control structures, representation, abstractions, and then systems.

And in the middle there, you're gonna see that there's all these, and it's a constant, that constant development of practices and processes throughout.

So I mentioned to you earlier about like, for example, when you were creating a recipe and you make some changes to it, how that is using the design process.

So you can see the design process is very closely related to the engineering design process.

So you're going to be asking questions, you're gonna make it as you're gonna imagine how that you would correct this.

Plan, create, test, improve, share.

All of these things are happening as we're developing and exhibiting these computational thinking skills.

So as I mentioned to you earlier, the idea of why we need to engage children in computational thinking really comes from the idea that it's an educational achievement and really helps to foster that lifelong learning of being wonder or foster a wonder into learning.

And so it really does help to develop that economic empowerment over time.

And then of course, as we mentioned earlier, that it helps to promote that leadership in fields that are wishing maybe to pursue STEM studies in later in their careers.

So how does computational thinking benefit young children?

Lots of ways.

Computational thinking really helps children think more logically, effectively.

And it fosters, we already talked a little bit about flexible thinking.

So using these skills really does focus in and help them to hone in on understanding and following directions, a step by step approach, making plans and stick with things, [laughs] stick with them.

Oh, I am not gonna get it out correctly.

Changing those plans maybe if there's a better approach.

So if there's something, again, something doesn't work, that all feeds into that flexible mindset.

It's important for math, science, but also did you know that it's important for literacy, because as they older, they're gonna set them up.

It helps them think more logically, and it helps to continues to foster that flexible thinking and perseverance and foster that need for perseverance.

The other thing that I wanna think or that I wanna mention is that CT is cross-cutting, so it can be found and we see lots of different ways, whether we're talking about science and engineering, math, literacy, design, all of that.

The other thing about it is, is that it really has the social emotional component to it.

So when we're looking at those key executive functions and social emotional skills, so perseverance, flexible mindset, task persistence, when we're thinking about the understanding that when something doesn't go the way it should've, the way we thought that it should've, that then we would go back and make sure and twist some plans to change however needed.

So here's, I really, I really like this graphic in a lot of ways, but the thing that I really like about it is how that it takes those very complex, for lack of a better term, and sometimes intimidating words and concepts and core skills, CT, but it really correlates them to things that we do every single day.

And it really correlates it to things that we are seeing families and children do all the time.

So again, thinking about like at the top there, looking at the design process.

When a child was building those blocks, they could come up with a design in their head, maybe they write it down, they try to develop that as they're working with that.

If something doesn't go quite the way that they thought it should or it's not stacking up or it keeps falling over or whatever the case is, then they're working through that process.

They have to go back to a new plan.

They have to test and reiterate, and they have to, they would share it with their friends or they could share it with their family.

So there's lots of different ways.

You can see that when children are brushing their teeth, there's one thing we do first, there's something we do second, there's something we do third, right?

There's a process, a linear process for that.

The other thing that I really liked is how this illustrated the control structures.

I never thought about it in that way, but thinking about how a stoplight really helps to, it really, it controls that, right?

And so we're looking at when we see a red light, then that means stop, the yellow light means slow down, or a green light means go.

And then also thinking about hardware and software that instruments and music are everyday activities that we do when we're looking at developing those particular skills.

So how do we do this?

How do we support young children?

Well, the first thing that we want to do is help to teach kids to break it down.

So one example I give very recently, so my oldest daughter was diagnosed, I don't know, I guess almost close to a year at this point with ADHD.

So she really has trouble trying to think about how to take a larger task and make it into smaller, more achievable tasks.

So we want to do the same thing and CT really helps us do this with young children.

So let's say for example, they're working on cleaning their room and everything's in a disarray.

So what we would want to do is help them step back and focus, "Well, what do you think we can do first?

Well first, let's pick up all the trash.

That's, we'll just focus on one task at a time," until eventually, the larger task that you're wanting to do, which is clean your room, is done.

But helping them step back and see that we can make something and we can take a task and we can break it down into more manageable chunks, that makes it easier.

And that really helps in life for a lot of things.

We want to encourage children that patterns are everywhere.

They're in nature, they're in music, they're enclosed, they're in their routines.

There's all course, those all sorts of ways that we see patterns develop.

We want them as they become with more, as they become more comfortable with patterns, they can also see that patterns are predictable.

That when we see something, A, B, C, we know that it's always A, B, C. So whatever that happens to be.

We also wanna remind them to step it out.

Now step it out means that it's a logical way of thinking, kind of in step by step ways.

Now the thing about stepping it out is that we really wanted to mention, and I mentioned this a little bit earlier, that that sometimes order matters, sometimes order does not matter.

And we'll talk more about kind of a situation like that here shortly.

So one of the things, there were several things that were developed in the last round of the Ready to Learn grant that really helped support computational thinking already, just because of how and what concepts they were covering, they kind of aligned with that.

The first thing that I wanna talk about or mention is the engineering and, Play & Learn engineering app.

So this Play & Learn engineering app is a free app that's available from PBS KIDS.

It helps to play and explore all through different types of games.

So let me show you a little bit more about it.

So in this particular one, they're gonna design and test.

They're gonna maybe build a rollercoaster.

They're going to make their way through an obstacle course.

They are going to deliver food, figure out ways to deliver food to hungry animals.

So that helps to problem solve.

And then they even have to construct a tower to rescue a cat from a tree.

So there's lots of ways that they're using that design process, that they are using debugging and lots of other tasks that are mentioned in CT, that are mentioned in computational thinking.

Now as you can see on here, this particular app, just like many other apps available from PBS KIDS, once it's downloaded, you no longer need Wi-Fi to use it.

Of course, there's the occasional updates that maybe you need to do, but that would be it.

It's also available in English and Spanish.

It's just like many of the others, it's the click of a button and it changes everything into Spanish.

So that's really helpful for families.

It also really does help to encourage families to learn together.

It's both, there's opportunities or ideas, so that families can extend the learning beyond what is in the game and in the app to hands-on learning at home, which is also really important.

So there is the, also the PBS KIDS ScratchJr app.

Now this app has been around for just a little while, but this particular app, children actually develop stories.

They use problem-solving skills.

It's a pre-coding app.

So what they're doing is they're taking these coding blocks, they're clicking them together, they're building a strand of code that helps develop up the story.

There is also a Family & Community Learning Workshops series that's about that, or that is also that covers that.

And let me talk just a little bit about, or I'm gonna show you this video that kinda illustrates how PBS KIDS ScratchJr not only helps support families, but also how it helps to support computational thinking.

[soft upbeat music] - [Mayte] So these are the PBS KIDS ScratchJr Family & Community Learning Workshops.

- It's a series of four workshops where we get parents and kids together to engage in the engineering design process.

They're aimed for children ages three to eight as well as their family members.

- What I want you to remember always, you are scientists, and your little ones, they are scientists too.

At every workshop, we eat.

That is very important.

- If we can alleviate just one thing that is in their schedule by providing that meal, it's more likely that families are going to attend regularly.

- After we eat, then we go into the explore part of the session.

We separate the adults and the children and we try to make the adult the expert.

So we let them experience what the child is going to experience.

- [Adult] Okay, let's see if this one will glide.

- These workshops are definitely aimed at getting parents to being more confident about how to help their children learn.

- [Mayte] You could just see how excited they are when they are able to say, "I did this, I learned this and now I can show you how to do this."

- Okay, let me program this.

There you go.

- [Mayte] During the make part of the session, we use the PBS KIDS ScratchJr coding app.

The family chooses which project they wanna work on, and we want the families to work together to collaborate and we want them to teach each other.

- Hm, what's the actual output?

- What happens when you put a green?

- So, how can I do this?

- So try again.

That's it.

- I'm flying!

- The share part is also very important, because we celebrate successes and they get up and share and everybody's so excited, and you can see just how they light up.

- A few moments later.

[group laughing] - Kids can learn from the parents and adults can learn from the children at the same time.

It's an amazing fun experience for them.

[group clapping] [group laughing] - So what is an FCL?

I'll just, again, very briefly go over this.

An FCL is a series of four workshops.

In this case, it is PBS KIDS ScratchJr or it's about the PBS KIDS ScratchJr app, and it's really the tendency to engage the entire family.

So we're talking about all adults, whether that be mom or dad, caregivers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, it doesn't matter.

The thing is is that it's through guided play and they are probably one of my favorite things to do is that it fosters this collaboration among family members.

So it supports grownups and their confidence in helping children learn and grow.

They mentioned kind of to you what that the kind of the premise of it, so, we're gonna eat, explore, make, and share.

This really gives families a chance to connect together, to help learn from each other.

As I mentioned, this is probably one of, FCLs are probably one of my favorite things that we've ever gotten to pilot.

And there are several that are available, but the PBS KIDS ScratchJr FCL really helps to support computational thinking.

So upcoming resources, what's coming up?

Well, first of all, I wanna talk a little bit about a brand new series from PBS KIDS called "Work It Out Wombats".

This series premiered in February, premiered February 6th.

It features our little friends here, which is Zeke, Malik, and Zadie, and they are three adorable wombats.

I'll tell you a little bit more, but first we're gonna talk about kind of where it came from.

So again, it comes from, these are lots of different contributors and creators of it.

The Department of Education, Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

You can see the National Science Foundation, and GBH.

GBH is the producer of this particular series.

So it is groundbreaking in the fact that it really is focusing in on computational thinking skills for young children, for children three to six.

And so that was something that had not been done.

You can see in this particular picture here, that's our three little wombat friends and that's their grandma, Super.

Grandma Super is, they all live in a treeborhood, so the tree treeborhood as you can see is this big neighborhood, and the neighborhood is full of lot of a wide variety of friends.

They really did try to focus in on and include different cultures, different languages, different backgrounds.

So you can see that we have everything from crabs, to fish, to birds, to moose, to our wombat friends, to snakes all living in this treeborhood.

And grandma Super helps to take care of all of it.

She's the superintendent of our neighborhood.

So she is always a problem-solver and is fixing it, and our little wombat friends follow along the way.

So, I already mentioned they really did try to focus in on relevant narratives, environments, and characters.

Not only linguistic backgrounds but neurodiversity.

Lots of different ways that they really are focusing in on inclusion of a wide variety of people.

So how does it do this?

Well, you can see, so over here on the left, we've got the computer science term.

Over here on the right, we've got kind of what, how "Work It Out Wombat" addresses that.

So when we're thinking about sequencing, they wanted to make it a little more kid friendly when we're thinking about kids three to six, not that they couldn't understand that, but let's make it a little bit so that they can.

Step it out.

So problem decomposition.

So what in the world do we mean by that?

Well, we mean break it down.

We mean to take it apart.

How does, how can we break down that larger task into something smaller?

You can see, debugging becomes fix it.

Design process is create, test, and improve, which are all parts of the design process.

Abstraction and representation are talking about identifying important details.

So what do we really need to pay attention to?

Thinking about this or the "Work It Out Wombat", one of the things that GBH Education is working on developing a wide variety of support materials and educated resources that's going to live in PBS LearningMedia.

Currently, I think there's three or four that are available in PBS LearningMedia, but at the end of this, first of all, you're gonna have 40 half an hour episodes at the end of our season.

We're gonna have four games.

There are two available.

I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about them here in just a second.

There is going be a eight episode podcast that comes out about our "Work It Out Wombat".

And then 31 classroom resources.

That's the one I was saying that there are about four available.

So there will be a of about 31 classroom resources that will come out of this collection.

Now where can you find it?

So you can find them all in PBS LearningMedia.

I don't really have time to show you, but all you have to do is just pbslearningmedia.org and it'll pop you up immediately to find it.

So I wanna talk really quickly about the two games that are available.

The first one is a game called Step It Out.

This is about sequencing an algorithm.

So they really are making sure we're playing with Zeke, Zadie, and Malik, and talking about their routines.

So you can see, making a sandwich, getting ready to go for a swim, make a snack, build a sand castle.

So, they really want to talk about when we talk about how order matters, and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.

There's things, and this particular app, it really talks about how there's multiple ways to solve each routine.

It gives that gentle scaffolding so it helps that extra support, and it really helps them to see those particular sequencing and algorithms in things that these, that kids are already doing, which makes it more applicable.

We know that children are more interested when they're already seeing ways that's in their natural world.

So these are things that they're doing.

They're helping to make a sandwich or they're going for a swim or whatever the case may be.

The next one is decomposition.

So thinking about decomposition, this one is a game called Road Repair.

So our little friend Zeke here and his little friend Snout, they're trying to solve a problem.

They're trying to get somewhere and we have problems with the road.

So we have to learn how to take that bigger problem and break it down into smaller jobs, make it community-focused.

And also encourages the mindset that we can do this.

We've got that creativity, we've got the flexibility, in that there's lots of different ways that we can solve this same problem.

But it doesn't matter, 'cause the problems still get solved.

There's definitely more to come this round, or this Ready to Learn grant and this particular series.

As I mentioned, the series just started, the Ready to Learn grant.

So this particular round has two more years left.

So we've still got plenty of time to create lots and pilot lots of resources that will come out later and available.

And I'm sure that this series, as cute as it is, it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

So I can't wait to find out what happens with our friends.

I also really wanna talk about one that this is gonna be coming out pretty soon.

This is called "Lyla in the Loop".

"Lyla in the Loop" is also gonna be focusing on computational thinking.

In this particular series, you can see the quote here from Sara Dewitt.

She talks about how that "Lyla in the Loop" is gonna really be focusing on creative thinking, problem-solving, and an adventurous approach that helps children meet the fun in a relatable way.

So I can't wait to hear about "Lyla in the Loop" and see more about how she is taking CT and solving the problems and things that she has.

I know that was really quick [laughs] and there are a lot of great information.

Here is our contact information.

If you have any questions about any, the information that I've covered today, any resources that you might want to know more about or any questions that you have, please feel free to email us.

I am happy to support you in any way that I possibly can and I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks.