Essential Content A Computational Thinking Quiz

Which computational thinking skill is the development team applying?

• Abstraction

• Decomposition

• Pattern recognition

• Algorithm design

Answer explanation

Explanation: Decomposition involves breaking down a problem into smaller manageable parts.

Explain two parts of decomposition.

Answer explanation

Breaking a problem into smaller steps (1) Describing a problem as structured steps (1)

How does pattern recognition help in developing solutions? Give one example.

Answer explanation

Identifying similarities allows predicting outcomes/behaviors (1). E.g. identifying user actions on a website can predict future navigation patterns (1).

Which of these is an example of abstraction?

• Splitting a program into functions

• Generalizing code in modules

• Identifying repeating patterns

• Designing program architecture

Answer explanation

Explanation: Abstraction involves generalizing by focusing on key details and ignoring unnecessary information.

Write pseudocode for a program that prints numbers from 1 to 5.

Answer explanation

Pseudocode:

START

FOR x = 1 to 5

PRINT x

END FOR

END

Draw a flowchart for a program that prints numbers from 1 to 5.

Flowchart symbols you can use include:

• Oval for Start/End

• Parallelogram for Input/Output

• Rectangle for Process

• Diamond for Decision

A retail website needs a search feature to allow customers to search for products. This search feature needs to check if the search term entered matches product names, descriptions, or categories.

Briefly explain how decomposition could help break this problem down.

Answer explanation

Can break into steps like: get user input, sanitize input, query database, check product name match, check description match, check category match, return and display results. (2)

A software company analyzes user behavior on their website. They notice on weekdays most users visit the site in the mornings, while on weekends traffic is higher in the evenings.

Name the computational thinking skill this scenario relates to.

Answer explanation

Pattern recognition (1)

Which step is part of developing an algorithm?

• Breaking down steps

• Recognizing patterns

• Filtering details

• Defining sequence of steps

Answer explanation

Explanation: Algorithm design involves defining a sequence of steps to solve a problem.

Name two advantages of using abstraction.

Answer explanation

Reduces complexity (1), improves understanding (1), focuses on essential features (1), ignores irrelevant details (1).