Exploring Embedded Computational Thinking in STEM Teacher Education

Abstract

Computational thinking (CT) has become a necessity in many professional domains. As such, scholars argue that the acquisition of CT and application should be embedded in existing school subjects. Within the CT literature, a tax-onomy distinguishes CT practices in STEM education into four categories: data related, systems thinking, modeling & simulation and computational problem solving (CPSP). Practical applications of these different categories are still limited. This paper presents three examples in which edu-cators of science teachers integrate CT within STEM con-tent knowledge using the above mentioned taxonomy. The first example applies to CPSP and data practices, the sec-ond to CPSP exclusively, the final to systems thinking and modeling & simulation. The examples provide practical insight that makes the use of CT in STEM education more tangible for practitioners.