Editorial

Abstract

The relationship between computing and education could be represented by a large buffet, where over the
last fifty years plates have kept appearing and reappearing in many different ways. One of the most recent
apparitions, computational thinking, is certainly having a major impact on education systems. The ideas of
Jeannette Wing, the researcher who initially proposed the concept of computational thinking, have generated
enormous traction and have been the starting point for a vast, ongoing discussion involving researchers,
educators, policy makers and politicians.
This issue of the IJET magazine explores the concept of computational thinking in depth and, at the same
time, focuses on the introduction of computational thinking in school as part of curriculum restructuring.
School education is traditionally a stable sector; significant changes in curriculum are rare events. And yet,
in just over ten years, computational thinking has moved from academic keyword to curriculum reform in
many countries in Europe, America and Asia. [continue]