As we live in an increasingly digital world where even learning is done online, children must be equipped with the proper skills in order for them to be a better digital native. Children must be able to not only consume and navigate the internet for information and education but also produce, manipulate, and contribute to the digital world in a positive manner.

In order to do that, children must learn these skills while their minds are young, fresh, and eager for new information. Here are some computational skills children must develop in order to be a better digital native.

Basic numeracy skills

Learning one’s numbers, successfully associating the number with its numeric symbol and performing basic arithmetic functions such as adding and subtracting is the first step in preparing children for the digital age of learning.
Early learning educators must not forget to incorporate fun when teaching a child to recognize his numbers. Cloaked as games, turn number association easily into a treasure hunt game like a post-it number match game.

As the children master their numbers, teach addition and subtraction through a sharing activity where children are asked to share their crayons, food, or toys with one another. To teach addition, a teacher can ask two children to share their crayons together and ask them how many crayons they now have combined.

For example, you can tell a child to share two out of his five crayons. Then ask him how many crayons will that leave him with.

Fun simple activities like this help children learn their numbers in a more effective way rather than the traditional rote way of simply memorizing numbers.

Pattern recognition

All sciences rely on the observation of patterns that naturally occur in the environment. Children can learn pattern recognition by identifying the similarities and differences in everyday objects they see and interact with, e.g. cats, cars, and even elephants.

Children can also begin to observe patterns in their environment from detecting weather patterns to leaves of the same shape and colors. This pattern recognition helps children make better sense of the world they live in and make it even easier for them to apply and appreciate the patterns in the digital world.

Abstraction

Abstraction simply put is using a symbol to represent something. In the programming world, it is the use of 1’s and 0’s to communicate with a computer. For kids, you can first help them understand abstract concepts through storytelling using picture books. This helps them visualize abstract concepts and help them apply association better.

Once they grasp the concept of associating abstract concepts with symbols, you can hone their skill of association through decoding. Having secret messages decoded using an alphabet code will further strengthen their understanding and association skills.

Decomposition

Another important skill to learn is decomposition. This involves breaking a big task into small steps. One good example to teach decomposition is through cooking following a recipe. The end goal is the cooked food but to have the food cooked, it involves a series of steps from gathering ingredients, preparing them, to cooking and then assembling.
Children can also apply decomposition when it comes to other tasks they have such as getting ready for school. They can identify what tasks they do in the morning before they get to school.