The ITEST Small Working Group on Computational Thinking (CT) has just completed its White Paper titled: Computational Thinking for Youth. The paper aims to describe what computational thinking looks like when practiced by youth in ITEST and other NSF funded programs and how educators can support growth in computational thinking. It shares examples of CT as observed in middle school projects. It also shares observations in the form of a model that describes three stages that youth appear to progress through as their computational thinking skills evolve.

Many thanks to the authors (in alphabetical order) for sharing examples and thinking through projects’ collective experiences in CT. Walt Allan, Foundation for Blood Research; Bob Coulter, Missouri Botanical Garden; Jill Denner, ETR Associates; Jeri Erickson, Foundation for Blood Research; Irene Lee, Santa Fe Institute; Joyce Malyn-Smith, ITEST LRC at EDC; and Fred Martin, University of Massachusetts Lowell.