Computational Thinking has taught me that computers are not just about programming but also abstract and automated computer science concepts designed to solve problems(Selby & Woollard, 1970). Studying Computational Thinking is helpful in all fields and everyday life.
Firstly, the course taught me practical ways of decomposing problems, and the ability to think logically and rigorously, which I have to say is beneficial for problem-solving. I started to solve problems in parallel, imagining that a whole problem could be broken down into more minor, more focused problems and solved in parallel. I learnt how to analyse, decompose and solve problems effectively. Computational Thinking is not a technically oriented course, but it is an essential building block for anyone trying to enter the computer industry. Understanding the underlying thinking and principles of computing can quickly spark an interest in computing.
Secondly, in this course, we had a first taste of writing HTML and CSS style code and other essential knowledge of writing web pages, emphasising independent learning and lots of practice. The first attempts at writing web pages were very rewarding, and the course became more and more interesting as we started to imitate school pages. The self-directed learning of unknown tags and commands helped me develop good learning habits and the ability to search for knowledge. The emphasis on repeated practice is a good learning style. Learning Computational thinking also develops the ability to solve problems from multiple perspectives and even ask new ones. These skills apply to almost any job or industry. The ability to solve problems from multiple perspectives, to analyse them critically and to think creatively is invaluable in today's competitive and ever-changing information society.
Finally, learning to think on computers can be very helpful in the future. Computational thinking is a great way to develop your own logical and problem-solving skills. The abstraction and automation of computational thinking can simulate problem-solving in any scenario(Wing, 2006). This is a great way to train and improve your skills. Computational thinking is a cornerstone of the computer science learning process. It can be helpful for students who are learning about computing to understand why some programming systems are designed the way they are and to analyse how to solve problems efficiently from a machine's point of view(Lu & Fletcher, 2009). It is helpful for future development in a wide range of areas, whether or not we work in computing in the future, bringing a logical and rigorous way of thinking, an efficient problem-solving approach and a persistent attitude.
In short, it is a course in thinking like a computer scientist. People from all walks of life can benefit from Computational Thinking because of its rigorous logic and ability to break down problems(Wing, 2008). The existence of Computational Thinking has also allowed us to enter the field of computing gradually.
Lu, J.J. and Fletcher, G.H.L. 2009. Thinking about computational thinking. Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education - SIGCSE '09.
Selby and Woollard (1970) Computational thinking: The developing definition, ePrints Soton. University of Southampton (E-prints). Available at: https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/356481/ (Accessed: November 2, 2022).
Wing, J.M. (2006) “Computational thinking,” Communications of the ACM, 49(3), pp. 33–35. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1145/1118178.1118215.
Wing, J.M. 2008. Computational thinking and thinking about computing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 366(1881), pp. 3717–3725.