This module taught me about computational thinking, which significantly differs from my original mode of thinking. At the undergraduate level, I studied psychology as a major. Psychology is the study of people and their behaviour. I am used to attributing events, behaviours and phenomena, summarising patterns and analysing data through statistics. I also analyse human behaviour, where specific patterns lead to specific outcomes and are accompanied by specific causes. It is typical of human-centred logical reasoning. However, it is not very efficient for solving practical problems. But with computational thinking it is possible to achieve efficient problem-solving. In modern society, there is a greater emphasis on work and study efficiency, which can be achieved through computational thinking. The recursive principle in computer science is one of the efficient ways of solving problems. It breaks down and decomposes a problem into more minor problems, and rationalises allocating limited resources and prioritises problems to use these resources to solve them efficiently.

However, computational thinking also has some problems in solving human-centred problems, such as social, religious, racial and political problems. However, it is a more practical way of thinking about personal work, study and life issues. Computational thinking has been most helpful in my subsequent learning and application of computers. When writing code or using a computer to do something, I will first break down the big problem into smaller parts, thus making it less complicated. Then identify the similarities and differences in the smaller parts. Then identify the core logic that forms each small problem, hiding the unnecessary details. Then find an algorithm that solves similar problems and tweak it specifically to solve this type of problem.

Computational thinking is like a key that allows me to have a deeper understanding of how computers work, to enter my commands in a way that computers can best understand, to solve problems and present my ideas through computers. It helps me develop the ability to learn continuously, solve complex problems from multiple perspectives, and ask new questions. At the same time, it has also helped me improve my ability to solve problems, analyse critically, communicate and think creatively, and go beyond current methods of behaviour. This is extremely important for my subsequent studies in computing courses. I can think more carefully and meticulously about problems, make accurate statements and use logical thinking and deduction correctly. I can better organise the study tasks and use and schedule resources appropriately to avoid conflicts.

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References

Wing, J.M. (2006) “Computational thinking,” Communications of the ACM, 49(3), pp. 33–35. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1145/1118178.1118215.

What is computational thinking? - introduction to computational thinking - KS3 computer science revision - BBC bitesize BBC News. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zp92mp3/revision/.