1. Introduction to Computational Thinking
Mini Project
(C) Dennis Kafura

2. Game Plan Abstraction Social Impacts Algorithms 2 weeks 5 weeks
Project
Social Impacts
Abstraction
mini
layers
text
ethics
list
blocks
stake-
holders
micro
use
visualize
nano
model
2 weeks
5 weeks
individual
8 weeks

3. Game Plan Mini-project Final project 3 class days
October 27, November 1 and 3
Final project
3 weeks
Project (both video and code) due at 8AM on Monday, December 5
Attendance on Tuesday, December 6 is mandatory; project code evaluation will be done during class on this day
(C) Dennis Kafura

4. Mini-project Goals
Integrate the knowledge and skills acquired so far in the course
Practice developing all of the components of the final project using an assigned data set
An example project is shown in Section 7.4
(C) Dennis Kafura

5. Project Components Question Individual Abstraction Cohort Limitations
Element
Done by
Question
Individual
Abstraction
Cohort
Limitations
Structure
Visualization(s)
Answer(s)
Social Impacts
(C) Dennis Kafura

6. Final Product Create a complete presentation
Share slides for elements produced by cohort
Each student adds slides for elements produced individually
Each student separately adds narration to their complete presentation
Create video from slides
See Classwork 22 (“Mini Project – Video”)
Upload Classwork 22
Mini Project - Slides and Code
Mini Project - Video
(C) Dennis Kafura

7. Data Set Use State Crime data stream Data can be accessed as:
Go to think.cs.vt.edu/corgis/python
Click on State Crime
Download to your computational_thinking folder
state_crime.py
state_crime.db
Data can be accessed as:
import state_crime
crime_reports = state_crime.get_all_crimes()
For explanation of data elements use “Explore crime data” button
(C) Dennis Kafura

8. Types of limitations
Limitations in the answering questions come from several sources:
Abstraction: The most frequent limitation is due to properties that are excluded from the abstraction.
Completeness: In some cases data might not be available for some properties in some instances. The more missing data there is the more the conclusions are limited.
Precision: In some problems the accuracy of the data might be insufficient to make conclusions at a very precise level of detail. For example, if state budgets are reported in units of a hundred million dollars then conclusions at lesser amounts cannot be made.
(C) Dennis Kafura

9. Visualizations Remember to title the visualization and label both axes
Graph Type
Shows
Line plot
trend or variation
Histogram
frequency
Scatter Plot
relationship
Bar Chart
comparison
(C) Dennis Kafura

10. Mini-project Plan Day Tasks 1
Explore the crime data stream and create a map
Explain the abstraction represented by the data
State the questions that will be answered using the data
Identify the limitations on the answers due to the constrains of the data 2
Develop the Python code to manipulate the data
Generate the visualizations 3
State the conclusions that can be drawn from the visualizations that answer the questions
Explain the social impacts and ethical considerations of your conclusions
Produce a slide presentation of your project (in class)
Add voice-over narrative (as home work)
(C) Dennis Kafura

11. Next Steps Get started on the today’s part of the mini-project work
Complete as homework what was not finished in class
A cohort may work ahead only when all members of the cohort are fully understanding and fully participating in the work completed so far.
(C) Dennis Kafura