Coding, Computational Thinking, and Cultural Contexts

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between coding, computational thinking, and the contexts in which those concepts are learned. It recounts a pilot study where a 12-week robotics curriculum was taught in kindergarten classrooms at eight interfaith and secular schools in Boston, United States of America and Buenos Aires, Argentina. In this chapter, the authors explore how teachers and students drew from their socio-cultural environments to inform the language of computational thinking and support the internalization of computational concepts and, in turn, how computational thinking was used as a tool for deeper exploration of cultural traditions and beliefs, meaning-making, and creative expression.