Teaching computational thinking to English learners

Abstract

Computational thinking is an essential skill for full participation in society in today’s world (Wing,
2006). Yet there has been little discussion about the teaching and learning of computational thinking
to English learners. In this paper, we first review what computational thinking is, why it is important in
education, and the particular challenges faced in teaching computational thinking to speakers of
English as a second language. We then discuss some approaches for addressing these challenges,
giving examples from two recent K–12 initiatives in which we have been involved.