The Core Understandings

The introduction of Computational Thinking and Designing and Developing have brought with it six core understandings for teachers and students to become familiar with.

Now, another disclosure, these core understandings are not set in stone. Chances are they will change, adapt, and expand over the years. Just searching ‘Digital Technologies Core Understandings’ will get you a ton of other peoples’ different opinions around what the correct number of core understandings there are. So six is just our interpretation on what we see as being the essential ideas that will come forward as children delve into the realm of digital technologies.

These are also heading that, personally, I would only use with students in 3rd Grade or higher. In our course “Fundamentals: What is Coding”, we look at how to introduce some of these core understandings to students in Preschool – 3rd Grade.

But for now, let’s look into these:
1. Algorithms (a set of steps to complete a task)
2. Implementation (turning algorithms into a language that computers understand)
3. Data Representation (how computers store information so that it can be processed)
4. Design Thinking (design and build digital outcomes and solutions)
5. Digital Devices and Infrastructure (how do computers work and communicate)
6. Humans and Computers (linking all other areas – how do we use these)

These six themes are in no particular order. At some points during your teaching they will overlap and intertwine, while at other points they will be taught as a stand alone core concept.

These are the core understandings we want to impart to our students. Because once they understand these, they can problem solve different solutions to real world contexts.