From Play to Creative Extrapolation: Fostering Emergent Computational Thinking in the Makerspace

Abstract

Computational thinking (CT) has been hailed as a necessary competency that should be incorporated across the curriculum; however, research shows that CT is generally confined within programming curriculums. If we are to foster CT in areas like the humanities, we must extend our understanding of CT to include emergent and creative expressions of computational concepts. We explore the makerspace as a fertile environment for experimentation and play with CT concepts, which can then be extended through creative writing and imaginative extrapolation, during which learners metabolize and imaginatively project computational thinking beyond the confines of the actual and into rich potentiality.