The simulation creation toolkit

Computational thinking aims to outline fundamental skills from computer science that everyone should learn. These skills include problem formulation, logically organizing data, automating solutions through algorithmic thinking, and representing data through abstraction. One aim of the NSF is to integrate these and other computational thinking concepts into the classroom. This paper introduces a tool called the Simulation Creation Toolkit wherein users apply high-level agent interactions called Computational Thinking Patterns (CTPs) to create simulations. Programming at the Computational Thinking Pattern level allows users to directly create agent interactions in a simulation by employing generic icons acting out a scientific phenomenon they are trying to represent. The Simulation Creation Toolkit aims to preserve the computational thinking benefits of simulation creation while enabling higher-level implementation of agent behaviors. Initial study data collected from sixth grade students with no prior programming experience indicates that students can work the mechanics necessary to create simulations in the classroom environment using the Simulation Creation Toolkit.