Solving problems computationally across subjects
Computational thinking is not just for computing lessons — it is a way to attack problems in science, maths, geography and beyond.
Part of your national curriculum
- Algorithms and programming: Understand a range of ways to use technology across the curriculum to analyse, design and solve problems computationally
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand a range of ways to use technology across the curriculum to analyse, design and solve problems computationally
Key learning points
- • Abstraction: keep what matters
- • Algorithms outside computing
- • Pattern recognition and simulation
This lesson at a glance
- 28 minutes
- 13 parts to scroll through
- 3 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 13
Watch first
Solving problems computationally across subjects
An English teaching video on this topic from Spanning Tree. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Understand a range of ways to use technology across the curriculum to analyse, design and solve problems computationally
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 13
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Abstraction: keep what matters
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 13
Learn
Abstraction: keep what matters
When modelling population growth in geography, you ignore individual people's names and focus on birth rate, death rate and migration numbers. Abstraction strips away detail that does not affect the answer, leaving a model simple enough to calculate.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 13
Learn
Algorithms outside computing
A recipe, a science experiment method and a maths long-division procedure are all algorithms: precise step-by-step instructions. Writing them as numbered steps makes it obvious where a step is missing or in the wrong order.
Quick check
Part 5 of 13
Quick check
What is 'abstraction' in computational thinking?
Reset break
Part 6 of 13
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 7 of 13
Quick check
A step-by-step recipe is an example of...
Learning cycle
Part 8 of 13
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Pattern recognition and simulation
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 9 of 13
Learn
Pattern recognition and simulation
Spreadsheets let you spot patterns in exam-style data, and simple simulations (for example a spreadsheet model of a bouncing ball's height each second) let you test 'what if' scenarios instantly rather than doing every calculation by hand.
Quick check
Part 10 of 13
Quick check
Why use a spreadsheet simulation for 'what if' questions?
Challenge round
Part 11 of 13
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 12 of 13
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Solving problems computationally across subjects
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. What is 'abstraction' in computational thinking?
2. A step-by-step recipe is an example of...
3. Why use a spreadsheet simulation for 'what if' questions?
Lesson round-up
Part 13 of 13
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
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Games
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Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
How a supermarket checkout knows the price
When a barcode is scanned, the checkout does not store the price itself. It sends the barcode number to a database and reads back a record: product name, price, whether it needs an age check. The record is the single place the price lives, so changing one row changes every till in the shop at once.
Problems come from bad data, not bad scanners. If two products share a barcode, or a price update reaches the shop overnight but the till holds an old copy in its cache, customers are charged the wrong amount. Shops check this with test transactions: scan a known item, expect a known price, record what actually happened.
Good systems also log every scan. If a customer complains, the log shows exactly which record was used and when.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Write in your own words what the checkout sends and what it receives back.
- Explain one way bad data could cause a wrong price, and how logging helps find it.
- Design a test table with four tests for a new checkout, with expected and actual results.
Reading and notes
ReadingRead the lesson text again and note the key terms and how each one is used, in your own words — as you would for revision.
Half a page of notes
Extended writing
WritingExplain a real system that uses this idea — how it works, where it can go wrong, and how you would make it safer or better.
250–350 words
Algorithm on paper
DiagramWrite your steps out as pseudocode or a flowchart before you type anything, then photograph it.
1 flowchart or 10 lines
Code write-up
WritingCopy your code in, then explain underneath what each part does and what you had to fix.
Code + 5 sentences
Test table
Working outMake a test table: what you tried, what you expected, what actually happened.
4–6 tests
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 13 · Watch & discover
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Understand a range of ways to use technology across the curriculum to analyse, design and solve problems computationally