Bugg Magnet Elementary School

Center for Design & Computer Sciences

The Design & Computer Sciences magnet program at Bugg Magnet Elementary is the first and only program of its kind in the Wake County Public School System and focuses on helping students develop the critical thinking skills that will help them become dynamic learners and proactive citizens of the world. It encourages and supports creative expression and problem solving and exposes students to the meaning and mechanisms behind the human-computer interaction upon which our society today is built. It is about giving kids the opportunity to grapple with powerful ideas and the confidence to imagine a world that does not yet exist. This hands-on magnet program equips students with the necessary skills and frameworks for thinking through the challenging problems we face every day and prepares them for those we have not yet encountered! 

#BetteratBugg by Karen

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The Bugg Learner Profile outlines specific learnring targets for each grade band (K/1, 2/3, 4/5) to ensure that students are working towards milestones that will prepare them to be confident Digital Citizens, Computational Thinkers, and Innovative Designers by the time they are ready to leave elementary school. These learning targets build upon one another so that students are continuing to reinforce and extend their previous learning from year to year. 

Design Thinking 

Students use the Design Thinking Process to create innovative solutions to real-world problems. This nonlinear process takes students through a journey of understanding the problems that exist (define) and how they affect different people (empathize), and leads them through a cycle of imagining (ideate), designing, creating (prototype) and testing out possible solutions. This process helps students to see the power in their own creative abilities and the way in which they can positively impact the lives of others by developing solutions to common problems. Whether the problem itself is large or small, the design thinking process gives students a structure for building their confidence in their own abilities to adapt and respond to new challenges. 

Computational Thinking 

Computational Thinking is an approach to problem solving with four key thinking processes; decomposition- taking ideas and problems apart, pattern recognition- looking for similarities or trends, abstraction- focusing on what’s most important, and algorithm design- creating step-by-step instructions to solve a problem. Introducing these skills and providing time to practice them in all subject areas allows students to build their confidence as innovative problem solvers. Students begin to recognize the use of these skills in reading, math, science, social studies and even the everyday structures of the school day. They practice communicating their ideas clearly through the lens of these processes so that others can understand their thinking and collaborate with them.