COMPUTER SCIENCE AND COMPUTATIONAL THINKING RESOURCES LEEN-KIAT SOH UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, LINCOLN, NE CSTA NEBRASKA HUSKERS

COMPUTATIONAL THINKING “Computational thinking is a fundamental skill for everyone, not just for computer scientists. To reading, writing, and arithmetic, we should add computational thinking to every child’s analytical ability.” – Jeannette Wing, CACM

CHARACTERISTICS (WING, 2006) Computer science is the study of computation—what can be computed and how to compute it. Computational thinking thus has the following characteristics: Conceptualizing, not programming. Fundamental, not rote skill. A way that humans, not computers, think. Complements and combines mathematical and engineering thinking. Ideas, not artifacts. For everyone, everywhere. 3

RESOURCES Many CS & Computational Thinking education/outreach resources available online National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) “in-a-box” kits Ensemble, a Portal for Computing Educators CS Education Week Google’s Computer Science for High School (CS4HS) … 4

TODAY’S SESSION Two particular resources Google’s Exploring Computational Thinking Resources CS Unplugged Computer Science-in-a-Box: Unplug Your Curriculum as “in- a-box” from NCWIT science-box-unplug-your-curriculumhttp:// science-box-unplug-your-curriculum Activities, events, resources, books, … Created by Tim Bell, Ian H. Witten, and Mike Fellows, and illustrated by Matt Powell 5

GOOGLE’S EXPLORING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING RESOURCES TECHNIQUES 1 Specific computational thinking techniques include Decomposition The ability to break down a task into minute details so that we can clearly explain a process to another person or to a computer, or even to just write notes for ourselves. When we taste an unfamiliar dish and identify several ingredients based on the flavor, we are decomposing that dish into its individual ingredients. Pattern Recognition The ability to notice similarities or common differences that will help us make predictions or lead us to shortcuts. People look for patterns in stock prices to decide when to buy and sell. Pattern Abstraction and Generalization Algorithm Design 6

GOOGLE’S EXPLORING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING RESOURCES TECHNIQUES 2 Specific computational thinking techniques include Decomposition. Pattern Recognition Pattern Abstraction and Generalization The ability to filter out information that is not necessary to solve a certain type of problem and generalize the information that is necessary. A daily planner uses abstraction to represent a week in terms of days and hours, helping us to organize our time. Algorithm Design The ability to develop a step-by-step strategy for solving a problem. When a chef writes a recipe for a dish, she is creating an algorithm that others can follow to replicate the dish. 7

GOOGLE’S EXPLORING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING RESOURCES RELATIONSHIPS 8 Problem Decomposition Pattern Abstraction & Generalization Pattern Recognition Algorithmic Design Problem Decomposed Problem Patterns Algorithms

GOOGLE’S EXPLORING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING RESOURCES EXAMPLE 1 9 go

GOOGLE’S EXPLORING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING RESOURCES EXAMPLE 2 10 go

GOOGLE’S EXPLORING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING RESOURCES EXAMPLE 3 11 go

GOOGLE’S EXPLORING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING RESOURCES EXAMPLE 4 12 go

CS UNPLUGGED 13

CS UNPLUGGED 14 go

CS UNPLUGGED AS NCWIT’S COMPUTER SCIENCE-IN-A-BOX: UNPLUG YOUR CURRICULUM ( CURRICULUM) 15

CS UNPLUGGED AS NCWIT’S COMPUTER SCIENCE-IN-A-BOX: UNPLUG YOUR CURRICULUM ( YOUR-CURRICULUM) 16 go

CS UNPLUGGED EXAMPLE 1: MAGIC! BIT ERROR DETECTION & CORRECTION 17 play

CS UNPLUGGED EXAMPLE 2: BEAT THE CLOCK! SORTING NETWORK 18 play

CS UNPLUGGED EXAMPLE 3: SHORTEST PATH! TREASURE ISLAND 19

CS UNPLUGGED EXAMPLE 4: COUNT THE DOTS – BINARY NUMBERS 20 go

MORE SESSIONS … Picking a first Programming Language (11:15 am - 12:00 noon) Led by Lloyd Sommerer, Lincoln Lutheran High School, Lincoln, NE room Fedora I First Annual CSTA NE Local Chapter Meeting (4:30 pm) Led by CSTA Nebraska Huskers local chapter room Sugarloaf I 21

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CSTA Nebraska Huskers local chapter Google’s Phil Wagner NCWIT’s Academic Alliance Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE National Science Foundation Tapestry Workshop’s Joanne and Jim Cohoon, University of Virginia Renaissance UNL UNL Center for Computational UNL 22

CONTACT INFO CSTA Nebraska Huskers local chapter website Computer Science & Engineering University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE website Leen-Kiat Soh website 23