Digitizing Data: Computational Thinking for Middle School Students through Computer Graphics

Abstract

The concept of digitized data is fundamental to computer science, yet for many students, there is a disconnect between objects they encounter outside the computer and the data they interact with in the computer. A programmingbased approach can exacerbate the problem for young students who are developmentally unready for the abstraction required to translate the world into objects described through the syntax of a programming language. This case study describes the creation of a curricular unit called Digitizing Data, delivered in an eighth grade all-girls computer science class. The unit extends the CS Unplugged Image Representation lesson into a series of coordinated projects, culminating in students using a custom-built application to visualize three-dimensional objects and spaces. The project successfully engaged students in computational thinking, communicated a fundamental computer science topic without the barriers of programming, and allowed them to express computer science concepts creatively.