Computational Thinking Spotlight: Abstraction
In Computational Thinking, Abstraction is the process of filtering out (ignoring) the characteristics we don’t need or focusing on only the characteristics that “matter.”
Abstraction is similar to the selective filtering function in our brains. Our minds are constantly bombarded with information, and we must be selective about what we take in to make sense of our world and focus on what is essential to us. When students practice abstraction, they are building an invisible filter in their brains that can process information and pick out what is relevant to the task at hand.
Consider for a moment the first day you walk back into your classroom each year. Everything is covered or packed up, and you know that your goal is to get your room set up for when students return. This can be an overwhelming feeling. However, with abstraction, you can decide which items you need to begin gathering to organize the process. For example, if you are in the library portion of your classroom, you would abstract all the boxes with books. If you were at your desk, you may abstract boxes with office supplies, and so on. When we abstract, we peel away unnecessary layers to reveal only the elements we need to complete a task successfully.
Riverside High School Helpers at Steuart Weller Elementary
With the goal of promoting Computer Science to all students, starting at a young age, Mrs. Kathryn Cossa, math teacher at Riverside High School, teamed up with Mrs. Christine Fahim, IFT at Steuart Weller ES, to create the "CS Buddies" program. Every Tuesday morning, Riverside students who are members of either the Coding Club or Girls Who Code, work with students in grades 1-4 on a rotating basis.
Mrs. Fahim meets with grade level teachers to select a lesson from the CS Lesson Repository on Schoology that relates to current curriculum they are teaching. Although the lessons in the repository are already created, Mrs. Fahim creates a "cheat sheet" for the high school students to walk them step-by-step on how to teach the lesson.
About 2-3 Riverside students work with each class. They teach each lesson and then assist students with the assignments, which vary. Some lessons have used CS First Scratch coding while others have incorporated the iRobot Root.
When the Riverside students return from Steuart Weller, they come back so energized and excited about the experience. Students who were nervous and only signed up for 1 or 2 days, have now signed up for many days for the rest of the year. And of course, the elementary students love having high schoolers in the classroom.
Caitlin Wright, Elanyna Clokes, Monique Howley: 5th Grade Teachers & IFT at Hamilton Elementary
As part of the Social Science curriculum, fifth-grade teachers Mrs. Caitlin Wright and Dr. Elanyna Clokes collaborated with Mrs. Monique Howley, the school’s Librarian/Instructional Facilitator of Technology, to integrate Computer Science into the study of United States Regions. Students engaged in the 5Cs to research the Northeast Region to abstract the most important information about each state to create a diorama presentation using CS First Scratch and Makey Makey Invention Kits. If you look closely at the photos below, you will see that one group of students created a “Liberty Bell,” and the other group made a “Box of Syrup with Pancakes on the Top." Can you abstract relevant information from the photos to determine which states the students researched?
Sra. Eliana Betancur: Spanish 2 Teacher at Blue Ridge Middle School
In this activity, students studied the names of rooms within a house and the chores to do in each room. They were given a blueprint, which highlighted various spaces in and around a house, and were asked to develop a route for the iRobot Root to travel to each room. Upon visiting each room, the robot had to pause so that students could describe the chores they would do there.
As second-level students, these scholars were instructed to speak in the target language. This task facilitated eventual "thinking" in Spanish, a critical language acquisition component. After the students’ robots traversed the blueprint, they were asked to write a paragraph using the correct Spanish vocabulary, describing their paths and chores in each room. Then they shared it aloud with the class and answered questions. The students enjoyed it and used their language skills on multiple levels.
While reflecting on the lesson, Sra. Betancur said, "Students greatly benefited from this activity because they could leverage technology in the classroom to enhance their critical thinking and collaboration skills. They were given some basic instructions, but they needed to explore further to find a way to program the robots to traverse the blueprint. Collaboration was key to the positive outcome of the lesson because students had to listen carefully to each other to comprehend what was being communicated in Spanish."
Sra. Betancur also discussed the benefits of collaborating with Mrs. Angela Fraser, the IFCS assigned to her school. "Another important factor in the lesson's success was the collaboration between the teacher and the Instructional Facilitator of Computer Science. This was essential for creating an experience that was engaging, relevant, and challenging for students. The students had a great experience with this lesson."
The Sixth Grade Team at Harper Park Middle School
Water, Water, Everywhere? (PBL)
Driving Question: How does where we live determine who we are and what resources we have?
English classes participated in a Global Read Aloud, reading the novel Thirst by Varsha Bajaj. Students studied vocabulary while discussing current events and abstracting similarities and differences to their own experiences with water access. Students also participated in a virtual field trip to Mumbai (the setting of the story) and used Computational Thinking strategies to determine problems and solutions citizens of Mumbai have to consider daily. For example, there are extremes of wealth and poverty within a small physical distance. What patterns might they recognize, and how might they break down the problems into smaller, more manageable problems to begin to solve?
As they were learning about American Indians, History 6 students answered the same question: How does where we live affect the resources we have? Students completed and shared the following hyperdoc to guide their research and to create a public product raising awareness about American Indian access to water. They had five project options to choose from, and they all contributed to a school-wide courtyard display sharing their research. This project helped students consider some different perspectives and experiences people have and helped connect what they were studying in the classroom with what is currently going on in the world (abstracting & analyzing data).
In their science classes, students have discovered water's unique properties through varied experiences. They have found that water is a universal solvent, and this can directly impact watersheds. Groups have analyzed how pollution moves through a watershed and used critical thinking to break down the many different parts of that problem. Students will use the data they have reviewed by others and conduct water quality testing at a local river. They will then analyze their new data to look for patterns. Students have been creating a Public Service Announcement Poster using an “algorithm” to teach the community how to Conserve, Protect, and Prevent water pollution.
Math students used proportions to find the amount of water used when taking a shower versus a bath. Students made predictions by thinking abstractly about times they’ve showered or bathed and the amount of water they might have used. Collecting and analyzing data on the time they usually spend with the water running was an interesting, eye-opening process! They then watched a video that shared information on time versus the amount of water coming out of a faucet versus a showerhead. They looked for patterns, broke down the problem using a formula for proportions, and calculated the amount of water used for each.
The following discovery was made: If we shower, we save more water!!
Contact Us
Email: nicholas.grzeda@lcps.org
Website: lcps.org/computer_science
Location: J. Lupton Simpson Middle School, Evergreen Mills Road, Leesburg, VA, USA
Phone: 571-252-2840
Twitter: @csforlcps