To be good ‘Computational Thinkers’ and hence effective users of, and more importantly empowered creators with Digital Technologies, students need to be conversant and articulate with:
algorithms;
cryptography;
machine intelligence;
computational biology;
search;
recursion;
heuristics;
Entrepreneurial enabling, and
The use of Digital Technologies to develop and support Critical Thinking skills.
While schools have taught many of these areas in the past, opportunities are now being presented where schools can fully embrace those areas traditionally part of a Computer Science type course, but also introduce the fascinating new areas of endeavor such as cryptography and computational biology.
Coupled with the increasing enabling of application development and deployment by Senior School students, such as in the creation and deployment of mobile games using Corona and Lua for example, students are able to be powerfully enabled as creative producers, not just passive users.
The presentation will give an overview of these areas of Computational Thinking and some outline of how they might be implemented in the curriculum, including current examples from senior IT classes in Queensland who are creating digital apps for Android devices.
This presentation will cover some of the ground from my ACEC 2012 talk on this topic (see SlideCast at this link: http://www.slideshare.net/StrategicITbyPFH/computational-thinking-14629222), but expand in a number of areas, in particular some specific suggestions regarding classroom implementation.
1. Title: Powerpoint
We welcome our next speaker
School: St Peters Lutheran College
Name: Paul Herring
Title: Computational Thinking in the Senior School:
New Traffic on an old Road
We welcome our next speaker
2. Some of my qualifications/authority to speak on this issue:
• Physicist – ‘Microwave Refraction in the Lower Troposphere’
• Professional Computer Programmer – ‘EDOMS’
IT Consultant: Trainer & Author of Office Application Textbooks, Systems
Integrator; Hardware & Software Sales and Support;
• Teacher: HOD IT, HOD Maths, Campus Manager,
Asst. Dean of Studies, IT Strategic Development Advisor, Adult Ed.
• QLD Education Department Panels: ITS (IPT, Physics)
About Paul Herring
M.Sc (Physics), Dip. Tchg., MACS (Snr) CP, Cert III (IT) , Cert IV
3. • Visual Basic.Net
• Lua (Corona)
• Lingo (Director)
• Action Script (Flash)
• Javascript
• Scratch
• small Basic
• DB Scripting
– Filemaker Pro 12 & Access 2010
• GameMaker
• Lego Robotics
• ...
Recent Teaching of Coding in:
The New Traffic: Computational Thinking
The Old Road: Computer Science/Programming
4. • What is Computational Thinking & why is it important
• Tales from the Tablet face
– doing Computational Thinking in the classroom
– issues and potential
• The future of Computational Thinking
– some suggestions
Overview
5. • “Every era demands--and rewards--different skills.
• In different times and different places, we have taught our
children to grow vegetables, build a house, forge a sword or
blow a delicate glass, bake bread, create a soufflé, write a
story or shoot hoops.
• Now we are teaching them to code.
• We are teaching them to code, however, not so much as an
end in itself but because our world has morphed:
• We need to teach coding to help our students craft their
future.”
– https://www.edsurge.com/guide/teaching-kids-to-code
The 4th R (with no R!):
Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic & Computational Thinking
6. • “Fast forward to 2020. What job skill must you have?
– Coding
• What we do know is, for the foreseeable future, coding is one
of the most important and desirable skills there is, no matter
how it evolves.”
• http://mashable.com/2013/04/30/job-skill-future-coding/
• Gary Stager: 3 game changers:
– fabrication (3D printing);
– physical computing (robotics);
– programming - ground swell of coding
- see http://www.inventtolearn.com/about-the-book/
Coding is the new black
7. • “Computational thinking will be a fundamental skill used by
everyone in the world.
• To reading, writing, and arithmetic, let’s add computational
thinking to every child's analytical ability.
• Computational thinking is an approach to solving
problems, building systems, and understanding human
behavior that draws on the power and limits of computing.”
Prof. Jeannette M. Wing
8. • "Computational Thinking is a fundamental analytical skill that
everyone, not just computer scientists, can use to help solve
problems, design systems, and understand human behavior.
• As such, ... computational thinking is comparable to the
mathematical, linguistic, and logical reasoning that is taught to all
children.
• This view mirrors the growing recognition that computational
thinking (and not just computation) has begun to influence and
shape thinking in many disciplines
– Earth sciences, biology, and statistics, for example.
• Moreover, computational thinking is likely to benefit not only other
scientists but also everyone else
– bankers, stockbrokers, lawyers, car
mechanics, salespeople, health care professionals, artists, and so
on.“
– from the preface of COMPUTATIONAL THINKING - REPORT OF A WORKSHOP ON THE
SCOPE AND NATURE OF COMPUTATIONAL THINKING - (c) National Academy of Sciences.
What is Computational Thinking?
9. • "Computational Thinking is the thought processes involved in
formulating problems and their solutions so that the solutions are
represented in a form that can be effectively carried out by an
information-processing agent.“ - Cuny, Snyder, Wing
• “Computer science is having a revolutionary impact on scientific
research and discovery.
• Simply put, it is nearly impossible to do scholarly research in any
scientific or engineering discipline without an ability to think
computationally.
• The impact of computing extends far beyond
science, however, affecting all aspects of our lives.
• To flourish in today's world, everyone needs computational
thinking.“
– Center for Computational Thinking at Carnegie Mellon University
What is Computational Thinking?
10. “Computational Thinking (CT) is a problem-solving process that includes
(but is not limited to) the following characteristics:
Formulating problems in a way that enables us to use a computer and
other tools to help solve them.
Logically organizing and analyzing data
Representing data through abstractions such as models and simulations
Automating solutions through algorithmic thinking (a series of ordered
steps)
Identifying, analyzing, and implementing possible solutions with the goal
of achieving the most efficient and effective combination of steps and
resources
Generalizing and transferring this problem solving process to a wide
variety of problems”
- International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
& Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), USA
Operational Definition for K–12 Education
11. “These skills are supported and enhanced by a number of dispositions
or attitudes that are essential dimensions of CT.
These dispositions or attitudes include:
Confidence in dealing with complexity
Persistence in working with difficult problems
Tolerance for ambiguity
The ability to deal with open ended problems
The ability to communicate and work with others to achieve a
common goal or solution”
- International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) &
Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), USA
Operational Definition for K–12 Education
12. • "Computer programming is the new international language of
business, and we're not teaching it in schools. Why is that?
• ... The fact it's not happening in junior highs and high
schools is a shame given the demand for developers.
• There's a huge talent crunch, and people aren't connecting
the dots.
• Parents and teachers are not talking about the need and
encouraging it.“
– Aaron Skonnard, CEO of PluralSight
(Trains 250,000 professionals globally -$16 million in revenue p.a)
The new international language of business
13. • A generation of middle and high school students moves
forward without even a cultivated awareness of
computational influences on diverse fields of human
endeavor.
• In high schools and college, misconceptions and sheer lack of
awareness about computer science, as well as sub-optimal
early introductory Computer Science experiences exact a
heavy enrollment toll.
• Exposure to computing in the K-12 ecosystem could remedy
this malaise--provided it’s done right.
» Shuchi Grover - computer scientist and educator
Lack of Computational Thinking in Curriculum
14. • ‘A survey for the Guardian (UK) shows that so far 33% of
boys and just 17% of girls have learned any computer coding
skills at school’
• ‘Computer science must be taught as a subject in schools or
the UK could lose its globally competitive position.’
– Mike Short, President, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK
• ‘Programming should be part of the primary maths
curriculum.
• Learning to code should be seen in the same way as learning
the skill of handwriting so children can then use it as a tool for
solving problems in a wider context.
– Conrad Wolfram, WolframAlpha.com
(From Louise Tickle, The Guardian, Tuesday 21 August 2012)
The UK Scene
15. In NSW (2011) < 6% of Year 12’s studied any IT subject (in terms
of the girls it’s under 2%).
Yet around 67% took Mathematics.
• “No student entering a Science or Engineering degree would
even consider avoiding Mathematics.
• Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for either ICT literacy
(the equivalent of numeracy) or Computer Science (the
equivalent of Mathematics like algebra and calculus).”
– Dr James Curran, School of Information Technologies, University of Sydney
National Computer Science School https://groklearning.com/challenge
Australia is worse!
16. ‘Education Secretary Michael Gove sets out plans for the
national curriculum’ (July 2013):
• Other significant changes .... and perhaps the most significant
change of all is the replacement of ICT with computing.
• Instead of just learning to use programmes created by others, it is
vital that children learn to create their own programmes.
• These changes will reinforce our drive to raise standards in our
schools.
• They will ensure that the new national curriculum provides a
rigorous basis for teaching, provides a benchmark for all schools to
improve their performance, and gives children and parents a better
guarantee that every student will acquire the knowledge to
succeed in the modern world.
• ... schools have a year to prepare to teach it from September 2014.
– https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/education-reform-schools
How is the UK responding?
19. • “This is an amazing time to go into computing, with
unprecedented opportunities.
• Computers are a ubiquitous and growing presence in all
aspects of modern society, and thus there is huge and
increasing demand for computing professionals that is far
from being met by the profile of today's graduates.
• Computing-related careers are some of the
most versatile, creative, and satisfying career choices you can
make, and computational thinking and skills are valuable
complements to virtually all other career areas.”
– Maggie Eppstein, Ph.D. Chair of Computer Science, University of Vermont
Career Prospects:
20. “Whether your passion is to
uncover the secrets of the human genome,
create intelligent robots,
bring history alive through mobile apps,
prevent terrorism,
understand human social phenomena,
play the stock market,
create digital art,
improve health care,
or invent the technologies of the future, ...
computing is central to these and most modern endeavours.”
- Maggie Eppstein, Ph.D. Chair of Computer Science,
University of Vermont
Career Prospects:
22. Nobel prize-winner David Hubel of Harvard University (Medicine
1981 -Research on information-processing in the visual system)
in 1995:
• “... This abiding tendency for attributes such as form, colour
and movement to be handled by separate structures in the
brain immediately raises the question how all the information
is finally assembled, say, for perceiving
a bouncing red ball.
• These obviously must be assembled
—but where and how, we have no idea.“
– http://www.jameslefanu.com/articles/articlesscience-science%E2%80%99s-dead-end
Great questions and careers await:
23. “Improved technologies for observing and probing biological
systems has only led to discoveries of further levels of
complexity that need to be dealt with.
This process has not yet run its course.
We are far away from understanding cell biology, genomes, or
brains, and turning this understanding into practical
knowledge.
The complexity break is very apparent ...”
» ‘Systems biology. Modular biological complexity’
by Koch C., Science, August 2012
‘complexity break’ - the resistance of biological systems to computer analysis.
Great questions and careers await:
24. (based on global energy consumption trends):
1) Comeback of governments
2) Digitization
The Internet of things,
Automation everywhere, and
Intelligent alarming
3) Everything as a service
4) Sustainability
5) Geographical shift
Augmented reality,
Wearable devices, and
Home automation.
- Simon Fuller and Michael Postula, Schneider-Electric (ACS Seminar: Brisbane 21 August)
CT & the Top 5 Megatrends
25. Smart cities
A safer world
A simpler world
An emerging world
A world of service
A greener world
The three principal ramifications of these trends are:
1. Business model disruption
2. Competencies and skill sets of your people
3. Segmentation - end-user solutions - customized and personalized
- Simon Fuller and Michael Postula, Schneider-Electric (ACS Seminar: Brisbane 21 August)
CT & the Top Megatrends
26. Some examples:
Monash University
- strategic research flagship programs:
Computational Biology
Machine Learning
Modelling, Optimisation and Visualisation
University of Queensland:
‘Computational Science’ now a degree major
University of Sydney: Computational Science
The School of Physics :
Junior levels
COSC 1003 Introduction to Computational Science
COSC 1903 Introduction to Computational Science (Advanced)
Senior level
COSC 3011 Scientific Computing
COSC 3911 Scientific Computing (Advanced)
University Recognition
27. • “To understand the living world, biologists must analyze and
interpret enormous amounts of data and extremely complex
systems.
• Consequently, they are increasingly dependent on
computational approaches that evaluate data and model
biological processes.
• The Computational Workshop for the Life Sciences Classroom
is designed for teachers and lecturers in the life sciences, to
empower them to inspire and inform their students.”
– Monash Uni
Courses in Computational Thinking:
28. Understand which aspects of a problem are amenable to
computation
Evaluate the match between computational tools and
techniques and a problem
Understand the limitations and power of computational tools
and techniques
Apply or adapt a computational tool or technique to a new
use
Recognize an opportunity to use computation in a new way,
Apply computational strategies such divide and conquer in
any domain.
Computational Thinking means being able to:
29. Apply new computational methods to their problems,
Reformulate problems to be amenable to computational
strategies,
Discover new science through analysis of large data
Ask new questions that were not thought of or dared to ask
because of scale, but which are easily addressed
computationally
Explain problems and solutions in computational terms.
Computational Thinking for
scientists, engineers, & other professionals also
means being able to:
30. Algorithms in nature:
the convergence of systems biology and computational thinking
• “Biologists rely on computational methods to analyze and integrate
large data sets, while several computational methods were inspired
by the high-level design principles of biological systems.
• Thinking computationally about biological processes may lead to
more accurate models, which in turn can be used to improve the
design of algorithms.
• Similar mechanisms and requirements are shared by computational
and biological processes - Being applied to problems related to
coordination, network analysis, and tracking and vision.
• With the rapid accumulation of data detailing the inner workings of
biological systems, we expect this direction of coupling biological
and computational studies to greatly expand in the future.”
– Saket Navlakha & Ziv Bar-Joseph, Lane Center for Computational Biology and Machine Learning
Department, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. 8 November 2011
Computational Thinking & Biology
31. Two significant areas:
Biosemiotics:
• Biosemiotics is the characterization of the symbolic
representations within life, which is filled with digitally-coded
symbolic messages.
Biocybernetics:
• Biocybernetics involves self-sustaining systems that integrate
different levels of information and its processing, including
controls and feedback, within biological systems.
CT & Bioinformatics:
32. • “For functional communication (including controls) to
occur, both sender and receiver of each communication step
must know the communication protocol and how to handle
the message.
• In each cell, there are multiple OSs, multiple programming
languages, encoding/ decoding hardware and
software, specialized communications systems, error
detection and correction mechanisms, specialized
input/output channels for organelle control and feedback, and
a variety of specialized ‘devices’ to accomplish the tasks of
life”
• ‘Programming of Life’ Dr. Donald E Johnson
CT & Bioinformatics
33. • “Here, we report on the design, synthesis, and operation of a
rotaxane-based small-molecule machine in which a functionalized
macro-cycle operates on a thread containing building blocks in a
predetermined order to achieve sequence-specific peptide
synthesis.
• The design of the artificial molecular machine is based on several
elements that have analogs in either ribosomal or non-ribosomal
protein synthesis: Reactive building blocks (the role played by
tRNA-bound amino acids) are delivered in a sequence determined
by a molecular strand (the role played by mRNA).”
– ‘Sequence-Specific Peptide Synthesis by an Artificial Small-Molecule Machine’
Science, Vol. 339 no. 6116 pp. 189-193 (11 January 2013)
• They write that their machine "is a primitive analog of the
ribosome."
Computational Biology & Reverse Engineering
34. • “All known life is cybernetic.
• The key to understanding life is controls, not constraints....
• Sophisticated functions must be instructed or actually
computed by prescriptive information .
• Prescriptive information most often presents as a linear digital
string of symbols representing decision node, logic gate, or
configurable switch-setting choices. ”
» 'Constraints vs Controls' by David L. Abel, The Open Cybernetics
& Systemics Journal, 2010, 4, 14-27
CT & Cybernetics
35. • Prescriptive information is an algorithmic subset of functional
information.
• Prescriptive information contains instructions to accomplish
objectives based on data supplied during the execution of an
algorithm
• Biological systems have multiple semiotic coding systems for
– transcription
– communication
– translation ...
• These message systems use techniques such as
– overlapping genes,
– messages within messages,
– multi-level encryption
– etc.
Prescriptive information
36. • “From the information perspective, the genetic system is a
pre-existing operating system of unknown origin that
supports the storage and execution of a wide variety of
specific genetic programs (the genome applications), each
program being stored in DNA.”
Donald Johnson
http://www.scienceintegrity.org/FirstGeneCh10.pdf
CT & Over-Lapping Gene Coding
37. “Romans 3:20
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight,
since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
Classic algorithmic selection, or if-then-else construct.
This phrase has the logical form: “For <condition B>, since <cause A>” or
more clearly, “<Condition B> is true because of <Cause A>”.
That is, <Cause or Reason A> leads to the conclusion of <Condition or
Statement B>.
Now we can analyse this passage by inserting our alternative understandings
of ‘works of the law’ into this logical construct, and see whether any actually
make sense logically. “
- see ‘Defending the Apostle Paul: Weighing the Evidence’ p60
Computational Thinking in Theology
38. Many of the concepts, skills, and dispositions are not new.
So how is Computational Thinking different from say, critical thinking
or mathematical thinking?
It is a unique combination of thinking skills that, when used
together, provide the basis of a new and powerful form of problem
solving.
It is more tool oriented.
It makes use of familiar problem solving skills such as:
trial and error,
iteration, and even
guessing
in contexts where they were previously impractical but which are now possible
because they can be automated and implemented at much higher speeds.
How then is CT Different?
39. algorithms
– sequences,
– loops/iterations
– parallelism,
– events,
– conditionals/selection
– operators,
– & data
cryptography
machine intelligence
computational biology
search
recursion
heuristics
Critical Thinking skills
Entrepreneurial enabling (innovation)
for more detail see ACEC 2012 Presentation
The Elements of Computational Thinking:
40. • A return of sorts to the ‘old road’, to the traditional Computer
Science course, plus new areas such as:
– Game Design, Cryptography & Computational Biology
• Students are powerfully enabled to be creative producers, not
just passive users.
• Computational Thinking is therefore
– expanding horizons & opening new avenues for creativity
Where this is leading
41. • One of the two Technology subjects are core to end of Yr 8
• Optional at Year 9 & 10
• ICT for users (embedded/integrated)
• Digital Technology – for creators/developers
• Only 4% of curriculum time wise – same as Geography!
• Application of computational thinking & use of information
systems as well as critical thinking skills.
• May include some online cyber-safety
ACARA Digital Technologies
47. • Decades of research with children suggests that young learners who
may be programming don’t necessarily learn problem solving well.
• And many, in fact, struggle with algorithmic concepts especially if
they are left to tinker in programming environments, or if the
learning is not scaffolded and designed using the right problems
and pedagogies.
• Recent research studies suggest that tween and teen student
projects may point to apparent fluency as evidenced by the
computational concepts used in their projects.
• However, probing deeper sometimes reveals significant conceptual
chasms in their understanding of the computing constructs that
their programs employ.
• Shuchi Grover, Computer Scientist & Educator
Not just about Coding – Algorithmic Design
51. 1. Do I really understand the problem?
(a) What exactly does the input consist of?
(b) What exactly are the desired results or output?
(c) Can I construct an input example small enough to solve by hand? What
happens when I try to solve it?
(d) How important is it to my application that I always find the optimal
answer? Can I settle for something close to the optimal answer? ...
2. Can I find a simple algorithm or heuristic for my problem?
(a) Will brute force solve my problem correctly by searching through all
subsets or arrangements and picking the best one?
i. If so, why am I sure that this algorithm always gives the correct answer?
ii. How do I measure the quality of a solution once I construct it? ...
Algorithmic Design & asking the right questions:
52. • Junior High
– Scratch algorithmic design with SDC’s or NS Charts Stencyl Python
– Robotics; Conceptual Schema & Information Systems;
– Flash/HTML 5 animations
– Create Augmented Reality apps
– Maker world
– (Not about learning apps like Word; Excel, etc)
• Senior High
– Visual Studio (VB or C++) .Net; Lua; Unity 3D, Filemaker/Access scripting
– AI; Computational Biology & Cybernetics; Cryptography & Encryption
– Big Data analysis
– search sort algorithms
– machine learning
– Create Augmented Reality apps
– Statistical analysis – net traffic – eg. Google Adwords
(Not about learning software tools like Photoshop; & Access – though may include
some multimedia tools like Adobe After Effects.)
What a curriculum might look like
55. Students:
• Code for Mobile Apps;
• Games Design;
• Computational Biology
• Cryptography & Encryption algorithmic design
• Big Data algorithms
• Augmented Reality development
Teachers:
• Professional Development
Create not consume:
New avenues in Game Design:
Ludo-narrative dissonance
& moral choices
56. ACS recommendations to assist in achieving a steady production
of skilled and qualified entrants into the profession:
In order to convey the in-dispensible role of ICT in our daily
lives ICT should be recognized as subject in its own right
(from Kindergarten through to Year 12)
ICT should be a mandatory subject up to Year 10.
from ACS ACARA Submission
ACS Recommendations:
57. 21st Century Fluency Project:
Problem Solving
Creativity
Analytical Thinking
Collaboration
Communication
Ethics, Action, Accountability
- from ‘Literacy is Not enough’ – Lee Crockett, Ian Jukes & Andrew Churches
These are long term goals – are our students developing these skills; are they
mandated in the curriculum?
What skills will students most need to succeed in
the 21st century?
58. • ‘The one thing that I wish I had known about computer
science (and programming more generally) earlier is that it is
a profoundly creative and interdisciplinary pursuit.
• What you choose to apply your problem-solving to is
something that demands great ingenuity in how one
transforms patterns of the physical world into a digital
distillation.
• Coding is a process of both synthesis and genesis; not only is
it guided by rules and syntax, but also something you create
from scratch (like you would with a painting or a novel).’
– Jasmine Tsai Software Engineer, Hackbright Academy
Profoundly Creative
59. Ultimately, the most effective motivators are
• autonomy
– (the ability to chart your own course),
• mastery
– (the ability to become an expert at something), and
• purpose
– (the idea that what you are doing serves a purpose larger than yourself).
• Computational Thinking as a discipline/approach to problem
solving can offer all three of these motivators
Autonomy, mastery, and purpose
60. How do we fit Digital Technologies into the Curriculum?
• What other subjects need a revolution?
• How do we get the teachers with the skills or potential to
attain these skills?
– Near Peer Coaching
– National & State Mentors & Consultants
– Computational Thinking & Digital Technologies Conferences
– More research on teaching of CT across the Primary & Lower
Secondary years
• New Coding/Social Media apps
– Australian versions of CodeSchool, LearnStreet, Scratch Forum
focussed on relevant year levels
– Small Business Units
Where to from here?
61. • Today's math curriculum is teaching students to expect -- and
excel at -- paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill
more important than solving problems: formulating them.
• "Rather than topics like solving quadratic equations or
factorizing polynomials, Computer-Based Math™ focuses on
using the power of math to solve real-world problems like
should I insure my mobile, how long will I live, or what makes
a beautiful shape, with all their rich and challenging context.“
» see http://computerbasedmath.org/
A Maths Revolution/Reduction would help:
62. • Computational Thinking is now being recognized as vital to
our students and our world’s future progress.
• Computational Thinking needs to be a core part of the
curriculum in our schools
• It is time to get serious in supporting the implementation of
the ACARA Digital Technologies Curriculum
• It is time to help raise up teachers who are willing and able to
pick up the baton and become teachers of Computational
Thinking
• What can YOU do – talk about it; share the vision; share
resources; incorporate Computational Thinking into your own
learning journey.
• Inspire and be inspired!
Conclusion:
63. You should now have some idea of
• What is Computational Thinking & why is it important
• How we are implementing Computational Thinking in the
classroom & some ideas to perhaps follow-up on in this
regard
• Some sense of the likely future of Computational Thinking as
part of the ACARA Digital Technologies curriculum and it’s
extension into Year’s 11 & 12
Summary
64. • Scoop it – my collection of Computational Thinking Resources
– http://www.scoop.it/t/computational-thinking-in-digital-technologies
• QSITE Computational Thinking Presentation 2012
– my first presentation on this topic
– http://prezi.com/pgig8-2dguqs/computational-thinking-in-digital-technologies/
• ACEC Computational Thinking Presentation 2012
– Perth 12 months ago
– http://www.slideshare.net/StrategicITbyPFH/computational-thinking-14629222
• ISE Network Blog:
– http://isenet.ning.com/profiles/blogs/why-it-should-be-a-foundational-subject-for-all-students-in-the
• "Fun" Reading for Students Starting a Computer Science Related Course
– http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~pc/research/education/puzzles/reading/
Further Commentary:
so many of the things we once did with elements such as fire and iron, or tools such as pencil and paper, we can now wrought in code.
I am not political and I'm not on any school board, but I am disappointed with how little focus there is on technology and computer technology in our schools.
The essence of computational thinking is in ‘thinking like a computer scientist’ when confronted with a problem. Among other things, this entails thinking logically and algorithmicallyunderstanding not only notions of flow of control in a programmatic solution but also how to systematically break down a problem and then compose an algorithmic solution.
At a deeper level, children need to "learn to conceptualise the problem they're creating the code to solve. It's actually very creative.“
Situation at SPLC <10%
I will address Australia’s response later on in this pres
It's not just the money and jobs that make Computing such an exciting profession
Peter Grant former CIO Qld govt.
CQUniversity uses augmented reality to coach train drivershttp://www.computerworld.com.au/article/523438/cquniversity_uses_augmented_reality_coach_train_drivers/?utm_medium=newsletter&eid=-6787&utm_source=computerworld-today-pm-edition
1) A greener world 2) Smart cities - high-tech infrastructures where capabilities like integration & mobility are key. 3) A safer world - both physical and logical threats must be given equal attention, & a world in which government regulation will play an evermore critical role. 4) A simpler world - end users will demand & expect an overload of data manageable, easy and useful. 5) An emerging world - global economies are all intertwined; debt challenges will reshape business models. 6) A world of service - just about everything can be delivered as a service; cloud will play big.
Together then, uni’s & businesses are recognizing the need for computational thinking skills and therefore putting pressure on the K-12 educational sector to incorporate CT
I will now flesh this out a little
dna template base codes (T A C G) transcripted to RNA bases (A U G C) - then translated into 20 character alphabet of animo acids
Another paper (von Ballmoos et al., 2009) states: “The rotational mechanism of the ATP synthase demands ingeniously designed interfaces between rotor and stator subunits, particularly between the rotating c ring and the laterally abutted subunit a, because rotation speeds up to 500 Hz must be tolerated in the absence of a stabilizing rotor axis. This proteinous interface also acts as the critical scaffold for torque generation and ion translocation across the membrane. To prohibit charge translocation without rotation, ion leakage at the interface must be efficiently prevented.” Another good example is detailed in this paper titled: ‘Sequence-Specific Peptide Synthesis by an Artificial Small-Molecule Machine’ Science, Vol. 339 no. 6116 pp. 189-193 (11 January 2013):“Here, we report on the design, synthesis, and operation of a rotaxane-based small-molecule machine in which a functionalized macrocycle operates on a thread containing building blocks in a predetermined order to achieve sequence-specific peptide synthesis. The design of the artificial molecular machine is based on several elements that have analogs in either ribosomal or nonribosomal protein synthesis: Reactive building blocks (the role played by tRNA-bound amino acids) are delivered in a sequence determined by a molecular strand (the role played by mRNA). A macrocycleensures processivity during the machine's operation (reminiscent of the way that subunits of the ribosome clamp the mRNA strand) and bears a catalyst--a tethered thiol group--that detaches the amino acid building blocks from the strand and passes them on to another site at which the resulting peptide oligomer is elongated in a single specific sequence, through chemistry related to nonribosomal peptide synthesis.” They write that their machine "is a primitive analog of the ribosome." An analog is this case being a copy. A copy of a far more sophisticated design. To create such complex, even if primitive, molecular motors requires these scientists to generate the complex and specified information of their designs which is then used in making the motor. Information that reliably indicates design has such high levels of such ‘complex and specified information’ (or ‘specified complexity’).For a good overview see - http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/05/atp_synthase_an_1072101.htmlhttp://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6116/189.abstractSomething is complex if it is unlikely, and it is specified if it matches a pre-existing pattern.
Both linear digital genetic prescription using ac material symbol system and epigenetic “regulation” in molecular biology are aspects of formal control.PI arises not only out of high Shannon-bit uncertainty, but also out of high “Fit” (functional bit) content found in Functional Sequence Complexity
Information has three significant meanings that are important when considering the information of life: ‘functional’, ‘Shannon’ and ‘prescriptive’. including the bijective codon-based coding system (for symbolic translation) that involves transcribing, communicating, and translating the symbolic triplet nucleotide block-codes into amino acids of the proteins.
DNA is a storage medium that specifies all information needed to support the growth, metabolism, parts manufacturing, etc. for a specific organism via gene sub-programs.The smallest genome (though not autonomous) found so far is in the psyllidsymbiontCarsonellaruddii, which consists of a circular chromosome of 159,662 base pairs ... This genome has a high coding density (97%) with many overlapping genes with sub-coded information and a second genetic code characterizing alternative splicing ... ”“No man-made program comes close to the technical brilliance of even Mycoplasmal genetic algorithms. Mycoplasmas are the simplest known organism with the smallest known genome, to date.”– David L. Abel and Jack T. Trevors, “Three Subsets of Sequence Complexity and Their Relevance to Biopolymeric Information,” Theoretical Biology & Medical Modelling, Vol. 2, 11 August 2005, page 8
Consider fro a moment if and where these skills & disciplines are taught currently in the KLAs?Some use of algorithms in Maths & Science & critical thinking part of most disciplines in some way perhaps some innovation in science, technology & even hospitality but little in English and Maths
While schools have taught many of these areas in the past, opportunities are now being presented where schools can fully embrace those areas traditionally part of a Computer Science type course, but also introduce the fascinating new areas of endeavor such as Cryptography and Computational Biology. Coupled with the increasing enabling of application development and deployment by Senior School students, such as in the creation and deployment of mobile games using Corona and Lua for example, students are able to be powerfully enabled as creative producers, not just passive users.
So how might this be implemented in the classroom – let me just focus on the Computational Thinking component and in particular the coding aspect
While there are tools for the lower grades such as Kodable and Hopscotch I will focus on the 10-12 area
Lower levelsKodable & Hopscotch
show eBook template designed for use by students – add words, images and speech
http://www.cs4fn.org/programming/noughtscrosses/
Mention Nim? Other games using same approach - transferability
adaptability, fiscal responsibility, personal accountability, environmental awareness, empathy, tolerance ...
Autonomy, mastery, and purpose are three concepts that Dan Pink explained with great clarity in his 2009 TED talk. The essence of Pink's talk is that tangible rewards (a paycheck, a grade, a promotion) are only effective at motivating people to a certain point.Pasted from <http://electriceducator.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/reflection-fedex-project.html> http://youtu.be/rrkrvAUbU9Y