1. Computational Thinking for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing
President’s Professor of Computer Science Carnegie Mellon University and Assistant Director Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate National Science Foundation
 2008 Jeannette M. Wing

2. Outline Computational Thinking Research and Education Implications
A Vision for our Field
The Two A’s to CT
Research and Education Implications
Two and a Half Years Later…
External Response and Impact
Reality Check
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

3. My Grand Vision for the Field
Computational thinking will be a fundamental skill used by everyone in the world by the middle of the 21st Century.
Just like reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Imagine every child knowing how to think like a computer scientist!
Incestuous: Computing and computers will enable the spread of computational thinking.
In research: scientists, engineers, …, historians, artists
In education: K-12 students and teachers, undergrads, …
Thinking computationally not programming
Fundamental skill not rote skill
Computing not computers: pervasive computing/computers is passe: 20th Century!
“used by” ambitious. Certainly needed to function in modern society
In research: long-term; in education: nearer-term (outreach, diversity, changing society’s view of our field)
J.M. Wing, “Computational Thinking,” CACM Viewpoint, March 2006, pp
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

4. Examples of Computational Thinking
C.T. is thinking recursively.
C.T. is reformulating a seemingly difficult problem into one which we know how to solve.
Reduction, embedding, transformation, simulation
C.T. is choosing an appropriate representation or modeling the relevant aspects of a problem to make it tractable.
C.T. is using abstraction and decomposition in tackling a large complex task.
C.T. is prevention, detection, and recovery from worst-case scenarios through redundancy, damage containment, and error correction.
C.T. is modularizing something in anticipation of multiple users and prefetching and caching in anticipation of future use.
C.T. is using the difficulty of solving hard AI problems to foil computing agents.
C.T. is taking an approach to solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior that draws on concepts fundamental to computer science.
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

5. The First A to Computational Thinking
Abstractions are our “mental” tools
The abstraction process includes
Choosing the right abstractions
Operating simultaneously at multiple layers of abstraction
Defining the relationships the between layers
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

6. The Second A to Computational Thinking
The power of our “mental” tools is amplified by our “metal” tools.
Automation is mechanizing our abstractions, abstraction layers, and their relationships
Mechanization is possible due to precise and exacting notations and models
There is some “computer” below (human or machine, virtual or physical)
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

7. Two A’s to C.T. Combined
Computing is the automation of our abstractions
They give us the audacity and ability to scale.
Computational thinking
choosing the right abstractions, etc.
choosing the right “computer” for the task
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

8. Research Implications
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

9. CT in Other Sciences, Math, and Engineering
Biology - Shotgun algorithm expedites sequencing of human genome DNA sequences are strings in a language Protein structures can be modeled as knots Protein kinetics can be modeled as computational processes Cells as a self-regulatory system are like electronic circuits
Credit: Wikipedia
Brain Science - Modeling the brain as a computer - Vision as a feedback loop - Analyzing fMRI data with machine learning
Credit: LiveScience
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

10. CT in Other Sciences, Math, and Engineering
Credit: University of Minnesota
Chemistry [Madden, Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh]
Atomistic calculations are used to explore chemical phenomena
Optimization and searching algorithms identify best chemicals for improving reaction conditions to improve yields
Geology - Modeling the earth’s surface to the sun, from the inner core to the surface
- Abstraction boundaries and hierarchies of complexity model the earth and our atmosphere
Credit: NASA
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

11. CT in Other Sciences, Math, and Engineering
Astronomy
- Sloan Digital Sky Server brings a telescope to every child - KD-trees help astronomers analyze very large multi-dimensional datasets
Credit: SDSS
Mathematics - Discovering E8 Lie Group: mathematicians, 4 years and 77 hours of supercomputer time (200 billion numbers) Profound implications for physics (string theory) - Four-color theorem proof
Credit: Wikipedia
Engineering (electrical, civil, mechanical, aero & astro,…) - Calculating higher order terms implies more precision, which implies reducing weight, waste, costs in fabrication - Boeing 777 tested via computer simulation alone, not in a wind tunnel
Credit: Boeing
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

12. CT for Society
Economics - Automated mechanism design underlies electronic commerce, e.g., ad placement, on-line auctions, kidney exchange - Internet marketplace requires revisiting Nash equilibria model
Social Sciences - Social networks explain phenomena such as MySpace, YouTube - Statistical machine learning is used for recommendation and reputation services, e.g., Netflix, affinity card
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

13. CT for Society
Medicine - Robotic surgery - Electronic health records require privacy technologies - Scientific visualization enables virtual colonoscopy
Credit: University of Utah
Humanities - What do you do with a million books? Nat’l Endowment for the Humanities Inst of Museum and Library Services
Law - Stanford CL approaches include AI, temporal logic, state machines, process algebras, petri nets - POIROT Project on fraud investigation is creating a detailed ontology of European law - Sherlock Project on crime scene investigation
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

14. CT for Society Entertainment Arts Sports
- Games
- Movies Dreamworks uses HP data center to renderShrek and Madagascar Lucas Films uses 2000-node data center to produce Pirates of the Caribbean.
Credit: Dreamworks SKG
Credit: Carnegie Mellon University
CT for Society
Sports
- Lance Armstrong’s cycling computer tracks man and machine statistics
- Synergy Sports analyzes digital videos NBA games
Credit: Wikipedia
Arts
- Art (e.g., Robotticelli) - Drama - Music - Photography
Credit: Christian Moeller
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

15. Educational Impact
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

16. Colleges and Universities are Revisiting Curricula
Carnegie Mellon: Tom Cortina’s
MIT: John Guttag’s 6.00 (for freshmen)
Georgia Tech:
UG: “Threads”, Mark Guzdial, “Learning Computing with Robots,” Tucker Balch and Deepak Kumar (Bryn Mawr)
Grad: Alexander Gray and Nick Feamster
Columbia: Al Aho
Princeton: PICASso, for non-CS graduate students …
Villanova, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Georgetown, …
U Wisconsin-La Crosse, …
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

17. CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

18. © 2008 Microsoft Corporation
CT for Everyone
© 2008 Microsoft Corporation
Jeannette M. Wing

19. Reach Through NSF
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

20. CISE CPATH Broadening Participation in Computing
Revisiting undergrad curricula
Enlarge scope to include outreach to K-12
Broadening Participation in Computing
Women, underrepresented minorities, people with disabilities
Alliances and demo projects
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

21. CPATH Awards Specific to CT
Brown
De Paul
Georgia State
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Middle Tennessee State University
Penn State University
Towson University
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
University of Nebraska
University of Texas, El Paso
Utah State
Villanova
Virginia Tech
Washington State
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

22. Beyond CISE
Challenge to Community: What is an effective way of teaching (learning) computational thinking to (by) K-12?
Computational Thinking for Children
National Academies Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB): Workshops on CT for Everyone. Collaborating with Board on Science Education.
Cyber-enabled Learning
Education and Human Resources (EHR) Directorate, Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI), Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), and CISE
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

23. Other Educational and Outreach Activities
Peter Denning’s “Rebooting Computing Summit”, Jan 2009
Andy van Dam is CRA-E “Education Czar”
ACM Ed Council
CS4HS: Lenore Blum’s vision: “CS4HS in every state!”
Roadshow
Image of Computing Task Force: Jill Ross, Rick Rashid, Jim Foley
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

24. Two Messages for the General Public
Intellectually challenging and engaging scientific problems in computer science remain to be understood and solved.
Limited only by our curiosity and creativity
One can major in computer science and do anything.
Just like English, political science, or mathematics
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

25. Two and a Half Years Later: Research
Computing Community
NSF
CMU
Microsoft
NEH, ILMS
Computational Thinking
CDI
all sciences and engineering
Center for CT
computer science, arts, humanities, …
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

26. Research Challenges and Opportunities
CT for other sciences and engineering and beyond
It’s inevitable
They need us, they want us
It’s about abstractions and symbolic “calculations” not just number-crunching
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

27. Two and a Half Years Later: Education
ACM-Ed
CRA-E
CSTA
Computing Community
NSF
Rebooting
K-12
National Academies
workshops
Computational Thinking
CPATH
BPC AP
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

28. Educational Challenges and Opportunities
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education continues to be a huge challenge
~15,000 school districts in the US
HS science and math teachers
Public perception of STEM disciplines
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

29. Bigger Picture: Societal and Political Issues
Climate Change
Energy
Environment
Economics
Human Behavior
Sustainability
Healthcare
National security …
Competitiveness, Innovation, Leadership
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

30. Broad Charge To You
Help the community define a strategy for determining what, if anything, of computational thinking makes sense to teach at the K-12 level.
where
community = computer scientists, educators, learning/cognitive scientists
what, if anything, of computational thinking = concepts/principles/skills underlying computing
K-12 = especially early grades
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

31. Questions What are the fundamental concepts of CT? Elemental?
What would be an effective ordering of these concepts?
How best should we integrate The Computer with teaching the concepts?
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

32. Long-term view Analogy It’s NOT just curriculum design.
What physics did for itself decades ago.
What math did and continues to do periodically.
It’s NOT just curriculum design.
How do children learn what when?
CT for Everyone
Jeannette M. Wing

33. Thank you!