A 4 step approach to solving real problems with Computational Thinking. A method and approach for use in the secondary school enviornment.

1. QSITE 2014
Computational Thinking:
A 4 Step Process
Paul Herring
St Peters Lutheran College
Brisbane, Queensland

2. What do all these domains of knowledge or
endeavour have in common? - a recent
phenomenon but which is transformational?
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Astronomy
• Neurological Science
• Engineering
• Architecture
• Geology
• Mathematics
• Economics
• The Arts
• Social Sciences
• Medicine
• Law
• Entertainment
• Games
• Sports
• Languages
• Education
• ++

3. • “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
Computational Thinking – the 4th R
Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic & Computational Thinking

4. Computational Thinking – the 4th R
Ultimately, what is needed is a shift in mindsets, so that
people begin to see coding not only as a pathway to good
jobs, but as a new form of expression and a new context
for learning. - Mitchel Resnick
• “Fast forward to 2020. What job skill must you
have?
• 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/

5. • “Positioning coders as artists, and programming as
painting, students can be taught the skills and given
the encouragement to produce individual work,
enabling them to see the personal benefit and
reward.
• We must encourage Britain’s young people to
innovate and aspire to coding careers, with the same
aspiration that people pursue the dream of becoming
a footballer.”
– DJ Adams - Enterprise Architect & Open Source Programmer
Coding is the new black

6. • A growing awareness of the impact of Computational
Thinking - 3 Game Changers:
• fabrication (3D printing);
• physical computing (robotics);
• programming - ground swell of coding
See Gary Stager - http://www.inventtolearn.com/about-the-book/
My humble opinion is that if we work with our young people to develop their
skills in innovation, design and "needs" analysis in combination with
computational thinking skills then we are facilitating the development of a
generation of visionaries and problem solvers not just "code monkeys".
Danielle Neale - Serial Entrepreneur | Innovation Consultant
Computational Thinking – the 4th R

7. Computational Thinking – the 4th R
These is a potential tsunami coming
• of needed change;
• of lack of qualifications;
• of serious redefinition
of some of what we teach,
not just how we teach.

8. Computational thinking encompasses
 logical thinking,
 precision,
 rigour &
 creativity
• Those last two terms are not what some people might put
together, but there is a lot of creativity in what some folk class as
a science, and others, like me, class as a craft”
• “With computational thinking skills a person can better get to
grips with problems, find solutions, be creative and find
expression – all at the same time.
• And it gives them a fighting chance of not just surviving,
but blossoming in the data tsunami that is brewing under the
covers of the everyday world.” - Pat Nice, CEO, open source and cloud provider Reconnix

9. • “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

10. Hour of Code Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKIu9yen5nc

11. • "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.
What is Computational Thinking?

12. • 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.

13. • "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.
What is Computational Thinking?

14. Computational Thinking enables any explorer to
 manipulate, build/modify as needed, a dynamic computational
model with;
 sufficient power to re-compute and re-visualize the model with;
 appropriate controls and access to expertise to help interpret and
understand the model.
• 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
Computational Thinking – the 4th R

15. Computational Thinking 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
Computational Thinking - a problem-solving process

16. As a 4 Step Process:
1. Posing the right question = Computational Thinking
2. Real world -> modelling or technical formulation
= Design & Algorithmic Thinking
3. Computation = Programming/Coding
4. Verification =Testing & introducing solutions back into
the real-world

17. The 4 Step Process expanded - Scientifically

18. • The question – can’t read the sign
• The question – which avocado
Practical Examples:

19. • Scan materials or physical objects. Get instant relevant information to
your smartphone. Food, medicine, plants, and more
• The world's first affordable molecular sensor that fits in the palm of
your hand.
• SCiO is a tiny spectrometer and allows you to get instant relevant
information about the chemical make-up of just about anything around
you, sent directly to your smartphone.
• SCiO is based on the age-old near-IR spectroscopy method.
• SCiO communicates the spectrum to your smartphone app via
Bluetooth, which in turn forwards it to a cloud-based service.
Advanced algorithms analyze the spectrum and within seconds deliver
information regarding the analyzed sample back to the smartphone to
be presented in real time to the user.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVvb3jjGVQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrtGSEwfIJY
Practical Examples: SCiO

20. • Parked Cars
• Supermarket Queues
• Tour Itinerary
• Theatre Seating Diagram
• Social Media Feed Algorithms
• Back-on-Track GPS Algorithm
• School Wireless Coverage
Practical Examples - Scenarios

21.  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 as divide and conquer in any
domain.
Computational Thinking means being
able to:

22. • Ask good questions
• Hardest part is understanding/characterising the
problem
• Two standard approaches here:
• Ask someone else
• Look for a similar problem you already know how
to solve
• What makes problems similar?
– Similar information + computations

23. Conrad Wolfram argues that Mathematics Education today
should involve the same problem solving process:
His steps are:
• Posing the right question – of a real world problem/issue
• Real world -> math formulation – that is, state the problem in
terms of its mathematics components
• Computation – solve the mathematics models & formulas
involved
• Verification – implement the solutions into the original real
world situation to verify their ‘correctness’, effectiveness, etc.
Mathematics & the 4 Step Process:

24. • The skill that is in great demand today, and will continue to grow, is the
ability to take a novel problem, possibly not well-defined, and likely not
having a single “right” answer, and make progress on it, in some cases
(but not all!) “solving” it (whatever that turns out to mean).
• The problems we need mathematics for today come in a messy, real-
world context, and part of making progress is to figure out just what
you need from that context.
• I have had as students (in his Mooc’s), engineers with years of
experience who suddenly found themselves out of a job when their
employers replaced them with software systems (or sometimes
overseas outsource services).
• Those engineers are now having to retool to learn this other skill of
creative problem solving –mathematical thinking.
Kevin Devlin & Mathematical Thinking

25. • How many different uses for the GPS device that
comes with your smartphone can you imagine?
• How many do you think exist right now – that is how many
distinctly different uses. There are many Car Navigation apps
on the market, but what about other uses?
• How many you can come up with?
• Next Slide for a starting list
The Power of the Mobile

26. 1) Normal car/bike/walk navigation
2) track mileage for reimbursement
3) flight log book
4) mashup between a to-do list and GPS
5) tracks your phone, so if you get lost
6) share your location details with friends
7) amenities nearby
8) Google Maps
9) Golf
10) Runkeeper
11) Speedo
12) Altimeter
13) Family Locator is the most reliable and
accurate family locator & children safety app.
14) Family Locator app lets your family be in touch
and stay connected with your friends anytime.
15) Find the value of Taximeter
16) Truck Fleet management
17) location like Google Earth
18) emergency road side assistance
19) Track your luggage, laptops, pets and anything of
importance - need unit in collar
20) GPS games - eg. GeoCache, a global GPS based
treasure-hunt
21) Freight Tracking
But/and still need better s/w!
- Navman - parked next to chapel
- - "190m from a school zone' - clearly could be better!
Some GPS Apps:

28. • touchscreen
• accelerometer
• gyroscope
• camera
• compass,
• barometer
• Magnetometer
• Proximity Sensor
• Orientation Sensor
• Infra-red sensor
• Bluetooth
• NFC
• Force Sensor
• Ultra-sonic sensors
• RFID
• IR Spectroscopy
• etc...????
The Power of the Mobile – Add ons

29. • incorporates 3D printing and ultrasonic tech
to make healing a broken bone more bearable.
A 3D Printed Cast That Can Heal Your
Bones 40-80% Faster

30. • Ian Jukes:
“Our education system is not broken, just obsolete”
• Creative workforce jobs
– facilitated by technology and are therefore much less likely to be negatively
impacted by the changes brought about by
• outsourcing,
• off-shoring &
• automation.
– Check out my
Blog post here
The importance of Computational Thinking
in Education: Disruptive Innovation

31. 3 anticipated skills
of a worker in 2014:
1. Teamwork
2. Problem solving
3. Interpersonal skills
“The world doesn't care what you know, it only cares what you can do with what you
know!
Long life skills such as creativity, interpersonal skills, critical thinking and problem solving
will be the key to success.”
 Connectivity is transforming knowledge. We live in the age of Info-whelm.
 Students are now our clients. They have many options for learning - Are we offering
them a valuable and competitive product?
 For the digital generation the world is one great big social network.
 Mobile devices will transform learning experience.
 Big data is here to stay. Radical personalization of learning is on the way.

32. Top 10 Works Skills in 2020

33. Disruptive Innovation @ Uni level:

34. Learning Analytics:

35. • The Learner is in control – able to rewind/pace...
Uni of Utah:

36. Career Growth
STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

37. Degrees vs Jobs
STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

38. Degrees vs Jobs – USA Stats
http://code.org/stats

39. Degrees vs Jobs – USA Stats
http://code.org/stats

40. (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,
 eg. Central Qld Uni uses augmented reality to coach train drivers
 Wearable devices, and
 Home automation.
- Simon Fuller and Michael Postula, Schneider-Electric (ACS Seminar: Brisbane 21 August)
CT & the Top 5 Megatrends

41. 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

42. Students:
• Code for Mobile Apps;
• Games Design;
• Computational Biology
• Cryptography & Encryption algorithmic design
• Big Data algorithms
• Augmented Reality development
• Gesture Based Apps: - Leap Motion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d6KuiuteIA
“This is why using games as an example is so powerful: If you tell students that they’ll
learn how to create a video game, they won’t focus on the math, or the skills they have
to learn to get there.
They’re going to focus on what they need to do to make the games. If the goal is
exciting enough, the steps to get there cease to be serious barriers.”
– Les Miller, Professor of Computer Science at Iowa State University
Create not consume:

43. 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?

44. • ‘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

45. 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).
• Dan Pink – see Ted Talk 2009
• Computational Thinking as a discipline/approach to problem
solving can offer all three of these motivators
Autonomy, mastery, and purpose

46. • 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 recognize that value of this 4 Step Process of
Computational Thinking and,
• begin to integrate it into the curriculum,
• in particular from Middle School to Junior High and
• then as Senior syllabi are re-written, the core role that
Computational Thinking can play needs to be factored in.
The 4 Step Process

47. Computational Thinking: A 4 Step Process:
1. Posing the right question = Computational Thinking
2. Real world -> modelling or technical formulation
= Design & Algorithmic Thinking
3. Computation = Programming/Coding
4. Verification =Testing & introducing solutions back into
the real-world

48. Back to the Future: My sites
• http://computationalthinkingk12.wordpress.com
• http://www.scoop.it/t/computational-thinking-
in-digital-technologies
• My main sites for Computational Thinking

49. • Computational Thinking In Primary Schools
• Creating Computationally-generated, Physical Artifacts
• Computational Thinking Through Music
• Car Racing
• Teach Algebra Via Computational Thinking And Coding
• Computational Thinking
– A Problem Solving Tool For Every Classroom
• Modeling in Biology Using Computational Thinking
CT in Other Disciplines: