puter science more accessible to students.
Many toys and products have come onto the market to address physical computing needs, through some combination of computer science and hands-on instruction. Those tools include programmable robots and coding and circuit tools.
The hands-on approach to teaching computational thinking is a good way to "check off" the competencies that students should learn as part of the Computer Science Teachers Association K-12 Computer Science Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards, said Pimprikar, who led the ISTE webinar on physical computing.
Some of the expectations laid out in the CSTA and NGSS standards that connect to physical computing, she said, include problem decomposition, developing models, creating and testing computational products, solving computational problems, collaboration and communication.
'More Than Just a Computer'
To meet those standards, students "need more than just a computer," said Anna Otto, computer science and online learning coordinator for Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Colorado, which is incorporating physical computing into its 7th grade computer science curriculum. Otto said the district knew they needed to use the concept to meet the standards outlined in their curriculum.
One educator who has turned to physical computing to introduce her students to computer science is Meredith Cosier, a visual arts and STEAM teacher in Fairfax County, Va.
Cosier teaches her Bucknell Elementary kindergarten students about circuits by making music with their hands and a Makey Makey board. The Makey Makey board is a micro-controller that can be connected to a computer and interact with Makey Makey apps available online.
In Cosier's lesson, the Makey Makey micro-controller is connected to a computer, which is then connected to Makey Makey's piano app. A metallic set of clips, which creates electrical connections, is attached to the micro-controller, and students hold onto the other end. When students high-five, they close the circuit between the board and their body, and a note plays on the computer. Cosier explains to them that the circuit closes because a current of electricity is running through their bodies.
The challenge for Cosier is that "working with an abstract idea doesn't have a singular solution." She doesn't make models when she asks them to create something, because she doesn't want to give them a solution.
"It's hard to help the students without telling them what to do," she said. "It's a struggle to keep it open-ended."
Kimberly Sheridan, an associate professor of educational psychology at George Mason University in Virginia, said physical computing is appealing in that it can help students bridge the gap between the digital and physical world.
But it's no sure thing that physical computing will actually improve students' understanding of computational thinking and computer science, said Sheridan, who has researched the impact of maker spaces on student learning.
For instance, when students are told to 3-D print something that someone else has already made, the potential for learning is minimal, she said. But if they're taught to design an object in 2-D with the goal of having it function properly in 3-D, that can lift their academic understanding.
The risk in using some tools is that they've "been made so user-friendly that it's hard to get kids to the next level of computational thinking," Sheridan said. "It's good for engaging kids initially, but we need to be able to move them to advanced content, where they are really thinking computationally and problem-solving."
While today's students are often referred to as "digital natives," Pimprikar argues that much of their interaction with technology is superficial--focused on using it to play games or check social media.
Physical computing asks them to become designers, not just users of technology, she says. It forces them to develop prototypes of products and go through multiple testing to get to the final product. And it reinforces computing practices through open-ended exploration where "creativi