week 3

1.1.13 The purpose of abstraction.

You are working in small groups of up to three. Your challenge is to investigate the purpose of abstraction in computational thinking and prepare a short 5-minute group presentation that explains:
What abstraction means in computational thinking.
Why abstraction is useful when solving complex problems.
How abstraction can be applied in real-world scenarios.

At the end of the hour, your group will present your findings and chosen scenario examples to the rest of the class.

Activity Structure

Step 1 – Introduction (5 mins)
Quick recap of abstraction: “Abstraction is the process of focusing only on the important details of a problem while ignoring unnecessary complexity.”

Step 2 – Group Work (35 mins)

Each group discusses a given scenario.
In the scenario where is abstraction is most useful.
Prepare a short explanation for how abstraction helps in those cases.
Create a simple slide deck or poster for a 5-minute presentation.

Step 3 – Presentations (10 mins)
Each group presents for ~5 minutes.

Five Scenarios for Discussion

Self-Driving Cars
Cars need to detect and respond to road signs, pedestrians, and other vehicles.
Abstraction: focus on the shapes, colours, and behaviours relevant to driving rather than the full complexity of the environment.

Cyber Security Monitoring
Large amounts of raw network traffic data are collected.
Abstraction: use dashboards and alerts to show unusual patterns instead of raw packet-level details.

Video Game Development
Games are built from complex code, but players only interact with characters, controls, and visuals.
Abstraction: developers create “game objects” (like ‘enemy’ or ‘weapon’) that hide the complicated physics and programming underneath.

Medical Diagnosis System
Doctors use data from symptoms, scans, and test results.
Abstraction: focus on symptom patterns rather than every piece of biological complexity. A system may simplify results into categories like “low risk” or “high risk.”

Online Shopping Platform
Behind every “Buy Now” button is a huge system of databases, payment gateways, and logistics.
Abstraction: the user only sees a simple checkout process, not the technical background of payment encryption and server communication.

Expected Outcomes

By the end of this session, you should:
Understand the definition and purpose of abstraction.
Be able to give practical, real-world examples.
Demonstrate teamwork, communication, and presentation skills.

1.1.14 The tasks of abstraction:

• identify information that is needed

• filter out unnecessary details

• hide details of internal workings.

1.1.15 How to use abstraction:

• what inputs are needed

• what the expected outputs and outcomes are

• things that will vary

• things that will remain constant

• key actions the solution must perform

• repeated processes the solution will perform.

1.1.16 How to use abstraction in problem solving.

1.1.17 The interrelationships between components of computational thinking and make judgements about the suitability of using the components in digital support and security

Last Updated
2025-10-02 14:34:41