What is Computer Science

Computer programming is becoming an essential skill in the 21st century, and in order to best prepare future generations, the promotion of computational thinking and literacy must begin in early childhood education. Computational thinking can be defined in many ways. The broad definition offered in this chapter is that computational thinking practices refer to techniques applied by humans to express themselves by designing and constructing computation. This chapter claims that one of the fundamental ways in which computational thinking can be supported and augmented is by providing children with opportunities to code and to create their own interactive computational media. Thus, computational literacy will allow children to become producers and not only consumers of digital artifacts and systems.