Rethinking Computational Thinking for Public Libraries' Youth Programs: Challenges and Recommendations
Computational thinking has become a popular and important concept in education throughout the nation. Public libraries, with their technology services and their role as an informal learning space, have been tagged as an ideal place for computational thinking learning for children. However, the liter...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2018-11-01
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| Series: | Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice |
| Online Access: | https://palrap.org/ojs/index.php/palrap/article/view/188 |
| _version_ | 1818852283640709120 |
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| author | Marissa Guidara |
| author_facet | Marissa Guidara |
| author_sort | Marissa Guidara |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Computational thinking has become a popular and important concept in education throughout the nation. Public libraries, with their technology services and their role as an informal learning space, have been tagged as an ideal place for computational thinking learning for children. However, the literature and research surrounding computational thinking is often vague and even misleading, presenting differing visions of what computational thinking is, what it should look like in practice, and how it might be evaluated for effectiveness. As a result, youth services librarians face many challenges in their attempts to understand, design, and evaluate computational thinking programs for their libraries. This paper explores the issues inherent in current computational thinking research and discusses the challenges they represent in designing and facilitating youth computational thinking programs in public libraries, as well as presents recommendations for best practices. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T07:18:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a72a8967ce414312b4be0ef8b6a9a19d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2324-7878 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T07:18:28Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice |
| spelling | doaj.art-a72a8967ce414312b4be0ef8b6a9a19d2022-12-21T20:30:59ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghPennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice2324-78782018-11-0162758510.5195/palrap.2018.188119Rethinking Computational Thinking for Public Libraries' Youth Programs: Challenges and RecommendationsMarissa Guidara0Reading Public LibraryComputational thinking has become a popular and important concept in education throughout the nation. Public libraries, with their technology services and their role as an informal learning space, have been tagged as an ideal place for computational thinking learning for children. However, the literature and research surrounding computational thinking is often vague and even misleading, presenting differing visions of what computational thinking is, what it should look like in practice, and how it might be evaluated for effectiveness. As a result, youth services librarians face many challenges in their attempts to understand, design, and evaluate computational thinking programs for their libraries. This paper explores the issues inherent in current computational thinking research and discusses the challenges they represent in designing and facilitating youth computational thinking programs in public libraries, as well as presents recommendations for best practices.https://palrap.org/ojs/index.php/palrap/article/view/188 |
| spellingShingle | Marissa Guidara Rethinking Computational Thinking for Public Libraries' Youth Programs: Challenges and Recommendations Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice |
| title | Rethinking Computational Thinking for Public Libraries' Youth Programs: Challenges and Recommendations |
| title_full | Rethinking Computational Thinking for Public Libraries' Youth Programs: Challenges and Recommendations |
| title_fullStr | Rethinking Computational Thinking for Public Libraries' Youth Programs: Challenges and Recommendations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rethinking Computational Thinking for Public Libraries' Youth Programs: Challenges and Recommendations |
| title_short | Rethinking Computational Thinking for Public Libraries' Youth Programs: Challenges and Recommendations |
| title_sort | rethinking computational thinking for public libraries youth programs challenges and recommendations |
| url | https://palrap.org/ojs/index.php/palrap/article/view/188 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marissaguidara rethinkingcomputationalthinkingforpubliclibrariesyouthprogramschallengesandrecommendations |