Computational Thinking (CT) is a set of habits of mind people use to generalize and solve problems -- finding patterns, abstraction, automation, analysis. CT led to the development of computers and applying the power of computing and thus the ability to crunch lots of data (numeric, textual, image) systematically and efficiently to solve problems and increase understanding and innovation in all disciplines in which data are used.

In the history of Science, first there was observation (van Leeuwenhoek's "little animalcules"); then there was simple experimentation (one variable, one trial); then there was sophisticated experimentation (multiple variables, independent replication, statistical analysis). Now, thanks to the power of computational thinking and computers, we have an additional set of tools: simulation, modeling, and data mining. These enable more sophisticated "thought experiments" and calibration of theoretical constructs and hypothesis testing, leading to better understanding of the natural, built, and social worlds.

~Jo Oshiro

Page Contents -- feedback to Jo via Jo_Oshiro@ous.edu
(by category, in no particular order; some entries in multiple categories)

Navigate:
• Computational Thinking
• CS Theory
• Programming
• Gaming
• Modeling
• Big Data/GIS
• Pedagogy
• Competitions
• More Resources and Links

Computational Thinking [top]

Computational Thinking (CT) is a set of habits of mind people use to generalize and solve problems -- finding patterns, abstraction, automation, analysis. CT led to the development of computers and applying the power of computing and thus the ability to crunch lots of data (numeric, textual, image) systematically and efficiently to solve problems and increase understanding and innovation in all disciplines in which data are used.

• Seminal work: "Viewpoint: Computational Thinking," Jeannette Wing, 2006, Communications of the ACM. — pdf
• Computational Thinking — http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/what-is-ct.html —is a set of problem-solving skills that work across disciplines and are helping generate the software that is driving the frontier of science and engineering, as well as clarify problems and solutions in other applications, such as business and communications. This is one of many resources, but Jo finds this one understandable, generalizable, widely applicable.
• ISTE Computational Thinking Weblink has Teacher Resources and Leadership Toolkit pdfs for download.
  • ISTE Grant Operational Definition of Computational Thinking — 1 pg pdf
  • The same Teacher Resources from CSTA — pdf
• "Bringing Computational Thinking to K-12: What is Involved and What is the Role of the Computer Science Education Community?" Barr & Stephenson, ACM Inroads, March 2011 — 7 pg pdf
• "Computational Thinking: A Digital Age Skill for Everyone", Barr, Harrison & Connery, Learning and Leading with Technology, March/April 2011 — 2 pg pdf
• Rubin Landau, OSU Physics Prof Emeritus (has an NSF grant with SMED's Nam-Hwa Kang, INSTANCES, around CT for pre-service teachers)
• INSTANCES grant home page -- fantastic, concise what is Computational Science and why should you care -- targetted at K-12 teachers
• Rubin's Home page
• Honors Course in Computational Scientific Thinking
• CMU's Computational Thinking site including Talks (particularly Pat Phillips ppt, slides 17 and 19 comments) — Jo thinks particularly useful to translate to HS classrm
• "Computing: A curriculum for schools", Computing at School Working group, UK, June 2011 — http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/data/uploads/ComputingCurric.pdf — Jo also thinks this one is accessible to the lay reader.
• CSTA Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science and NSF Exploring Computer Science Curriculum (early high school)
• On Thinking Like an Engineer — 12 year olds' advice on problem solving extracted from "All I Really Need toKnow (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarten." 2007. Resnick is a key developer of LEGO Mindstorms and Cricket (one of Papert's disciples), and the new web-based language Scratch to teach kids (8+) programming concepts while minimizing the frustrations of precise, limited syntax. keywords creative thinking, learning, technological literacy (yes it's in there) design.

CS Theory [top]

Key Concepts and Caveats to Computer Science:
• There is a natural environment, the primary focus of science; a built environment, the primary focus of engineering; and a virtual environment, the focus of computer science & software engineering (some would say it is a subset of the built environment).
• A computer is a machine that executes instructions. Those instructions are a program. Long sets of instructions are written in languages of limited vocabulary and defined syntax to ease the human/computer interface, thus avoiding programming by on/off switches.
• Computer science is more than programming.
• Historically, that "limited vocabulary and defined syntax" made a need for rigorous attention to detail which has been culturally translated to a somewhat false difficulty level. Modern programming interfaces have dealt with this to some extent. Many programming interfaces for kids are icon-based drag and drop.
• Programming needs pretty good problem definition, a bit of logic, some task-breakdown skills (e.g. what you want to do better match up with your icons), and stepwise thinking—but it does not need to be saved for kids who've had algebra.
• Round up of K-8 Computer Science/Technology Concepts/Caveats/Resources by Jo Oshiro, September 2011 -- pdf

Some Jargon and Technical Details of CS:
• IDE ( Integrated Development Environment) — a software package that helps a human through writing the code (typing it, drag and dropping it, whatever) and translating it and packaging it to be run on the computer by a click of a button or icon. Some of the tools you will look at will be more explicit about these processes, some will keep them a bit more covered up.
• CS (Computer Science) — including programming, development and analysis of algorithms (procedures, rules, stepwise processes to solve a problem), optimization of algorithms and processing (split across how many processors?), what is amenable to computable solutions.
• CT (Computational Thinking) — see next section.
• Software Engineering — how do you reasonably put together and maintain usable, efficient software systems, including management of the human/computer interface?
• Compiler — the part of an IDE which translates from the language to a lower-level computer-friendly language; does a whole program at once.
• Interpreter — compiles a line at a time, which creates some inefficiencies but also has some advantages.
• Editor — a word processor for programs which does not have all those nifty hidden formatting features. A lot of people use Notepad or a similar .txt processor for editing programs or scripts.
• Script — a program in a scripting language, which is like a programming language but may not be able to reach quite as far into the guts of the computer to stuff and extract data.

Some CS links:

• Great Principles of Computing, Denning (high level discussion intended to frame undergrad+ curriculum development, may be somewhat relevant or inspiring for this group's CE-21 discussions) and by the same author, a little reality check, Beyond Computational Thinking.
• More CS than CT, the High School Discrete Math curriculum wiki — http://occcwiki.org/ — from a 2009-2011 ETIC/OPAS grant; further development of this material under discussion.
• Scratch — http://scratch.mit.edu/ — is a great tool to help students begin to learn about animation and game creation. Created by students at MIT, Scratch has all the tools to help a person of any age get started in creating computer games, graphics, cartoons, and animated stories. Advanced animation favorite — Blender at http://www.blender.org/.)
• Computer science offers some definitely disciplined thinking without needing a wet lab or lots of equipment/materials, and many concepts can be presented without the use of computers — http://www.csunplugged.org/ — also see http://www.ncwit.org/resources.res.box.cs.html for a nicely packaged, downloadable kit for CS Unplugged. There's a PSU prof who does CS Unplugged outreach if you want that contact.
• http://www.imacs.org/ — The Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS) is an independent teaching and educational research institute headquartered in Plantation, Florida, USA. In addition to full-time curriculum development and publishing divisions, IMACS operates teaching facilities for above average to talented elementary and secondary school students. Useful for their online course material.
• Ron Eglash's work including Culturally Situated Design Tools
• NSF Exploring CS curriculum, designed to articulate with the new (in-process, 2012) AP CS -- www.exploringcs.org

Programming [top]

• Getreal blog entry on "Teach Yourself Programming" —http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/getreal/2011/06/teach-yourself-programming-part-1/
• Facebook: Getreal Engineering's Note on "Teach Yourself Programming", a compendium of resources aimed at high schoolers — http://www.facebook.com/GetRealEng#!/note.php?note_id=139154096159317
• http://www.alice.org/ — Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a teaching tool for introductory computing. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience. Also Story Telling Alice and Adventures in Alice Programming
• Scratch — http://scratch.mit.edu/ — is a great tool to help students begin to learn about animation and game creation. Created by students at MIT, Scratch has all the tools to help a person of any age get started in creating computer games, graphics, cartoons, and animated stories. Advanced animation favorite — Blender at http://www.blender.org/.)
• NSF Exploring CS curriculum, designed to articulate with the new (in-process, 2012) AP CS -- www.exploringcs.org
• http://www.imacs.org/ — The Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS) is an independent teaching and educational research institute headquartered in Plantation, Florida, USA. In addition to full-time curriculum development and publishing divisions, IMACS operates teaching facilities for above average to talented elementary and secondary school students. Useful for their online course material.
• Robotics, some using the LEGO NXT -- http://www.ortop.org/
  • Jr. FIRST LEGO League (ages 6-9) – mechanical, research, collaborative brainstorming, presentation rather than programming
  • FIRST LEGO League (ages 9-14) – autonomous robot programming
  • High school programs as well, one through ORTOP and one through the parent organization, FIRST -- http://www.usfirst.org/ -- and its Oregon arm -- http://www.oregonfirst.org/
  • OMSI's interactive robotics lab
  • Alternative to straight robotics, also originating as part of Papert's legacy -- http://www.picocricket.com/
  • CMU's FIRE Project which includes robotics
• LEGO Education Catalog -- also see the LEGO education catalog's web page for other resources.
• Teach programming to (younger) kids:
  • http://www.squeak.org/About/
  • http://phrogram.com/kpl.aspx
  • http://www.teachingkidsprogramming.com/
  • http://scratch.mit.edu/ (as above)
  • Microsoft Beginner Development Learning Center Kid's Corner
• The Program by Design group — http://www.programbydesign.org/ — formerly TeachScheme, ReachJava! the language/IDE has been revamped to be Racket (sometime referred to as DrRacket) — http://racket-lang.org/ . There are middle-school (afterschool) and high school instances, as well as some materials at the undergrad and grad-student level. This group places programming firmly at the center of computer science, which puts them out of the mainstream of current academic/NSF thinking. A local high school teacher swears by this curriculum and approach, as teaching problem-solving, programming, and program design without getting too caught up in issues of syntax and language implementation. There's a book for math-phobes — http://picturingprograms.com/ (written for college frosh, I read most of chapter 1, might be accessible to smarter 11 & 12 year olds who already play with technology).
  • Program By Design Bootstrapworld for middle schoolers — http://www.bootstrapworld.org/
• Code academy — http://www.codeacademy.com — "A better, more interactive way to learn programming by actually coding."
• CSTA Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science and NSF Exploring Computer Science Curriculum (early high school)
• Ron Eglash's work including Culturally Situated Design Tools
• Build IT (information technology) through design (original funding by NSF and Noyce Foundation, using Girls Inc Alameda Cty CA as a test bed) -- http://buildit.sri.com/about/research.html

Gaming [top]

• http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kodu/ — "Kodu is a new visual programming language made specifically for creating games."
• C Game Programming Lesson Plans
• Exploratory Learning Through Educational Simulation & Games
• Games for Change

Modeling [top] See also Big Data

• Nick, the intern, picks simulation links suitable for younger kids: "These ones are easiest as they don't require any extra software to be installed, besides Java. Others have basically the same database of simulations with some graphical differences, and require signing up and downloading and installing. I picked these ones because even if they're fairly complex (like the first) they have good instructions and are interactive. Others teach simple concepts or are well visualized."
• Northwestern research papers on teaching and learning with simulations — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/references.shtml
• http://www.programbydesign.org/ — formerly the TeachScheme, ReachJava Bird Breeder — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?BirdBreeder.832.572
• BugHunt Camouflage — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?BugHuntCamouflage.982.602
• Sand -- http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?Sand.705.477
• Rabbits Grass Weeds — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?RabbitsGrassWeeds.824.567
• Sunflower -- http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?Sunflower.754.497
• Sunflower Biomorphs — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?SunflowerBiomorphs.654.492
• Virus -- http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?Virus.753.527
• Current in a Wire — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?CurrentinaWire.915.384
• Rope — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?Rope.785.555
• Ants — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/run.cgi?Ants.790.569
• For older kids:
  • http://www.grids.ac.uk/Complex/ABMS/ABMS.html#SECTION00051000000000000000 – page dated Mar 21, 2011. Application section has as an overview of howmodeling/simulation might be applied in different scientific disciplines. “Top-down” or “aggregate” (as named on the Modeling 4 All website below) or “EBM (Equation Based Modeling)” yields different results, and no emergent behaviors, compared to “bottom-up” or “agent-based” modeling. (Equations could be used in defining the behavior of an agent, so be wary of over-interpreting the jargon).
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_agent-based_modeling_software — Good table, many cost $
  • http://m.modelling4all.org/index.html — web-based not a software package. The organization is “Modeling 4 all” out of Oxford University. The web-based Behaviour Composer is buit on NetLogo. There’s some version control built in, or at least the option to share and lock models. The applications all appear to be at the university level, and Jo did not find any research to back up the pedagogical value (but that just may be a given in some of these fields, like population biology (not sure it’s even called that anymore)).
  • OpenStarLogo from MIT is a sister to NetLogo, released to the wild and superceded by StarLogo TNG — http://education.mit.edu/projects/starlogo-tng (yes that is a geeky Star Trek The Next Generation reference).
• For Teachers:
  • Joseph Kraycik — modeling and middle school mathematics
  • Anchored Instruction and Its Relationship to Situated Cognition (pdf) — part of the ongoing work of John Bransford (formerly at Vanderbilt, now at UW) et al.
  • http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/docs/ — NetLogo user manual; there is a tool “HubNet” to run real-time, participatory simulations (e.g., in a classroom) using computers or TI Graphing Calculators
  • There’s some interesting ongoing research documented here such as gaming to teach physics:http://ccl.northwestern.edu/rigd/
  • slew of modeling papers: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/cm/papers/ — including “Modeling across the curriculum” poster: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/abmplus/posterCandidate3b.ppt-noborder.pdf and more detail: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/mac/
  • “collaborative dynamic geometry — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/panda/
  • “An analysis of student patterns of exploration with NetLogo Models embedded in the Connected Chemistry curriculum“ — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/papers/AERA05-LevyWilensky.pdf
  • NASA also has a wealth of resources for educators, including many simulations: http://search.nasa.gov/search/edFilterSearch.jsp?empty=true
  • Hippocampus: www.hippocampus.org This has mostly tutorials in many subjects, but within those tutorials are some simulations.  This is an awesome resource both for teachers who want to refresh their content knowledge of their topic, and also for students who are capable of some degree of self-paced learning.
  • The Concord Consortium, tools & research publications-- http://www.concord.org/research/modeling-simulation
• For general and/or multiple audiences:
  • The Wolfram Demonstration Project -- http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/about.html -- " an open-code resource that uses dynamic computation to illuminate concepts in science, technology, mathematics, art, finance, and a remarkable range of other fields."
  • Hokey but informative dialog about agent-based vs. systems modeling -- http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/discussions/AgentModeling/
• Recommended by science teacher Charlie Hyman --
  • Open source physics: http://www.compadre.org/osp/search/categories.cfm?t=SimSearch
  • Hippocampus: www.hippocampus.org This has mostly tutorials in many subjects, but within those tutorials are some simulations.  This is an awesome resource both for teachers who want to refresh their content knowledge of their topic, and also for students who are capable of some degree of self-paced learning.
  • Physics lessons: http://www.physicslessons.com/iphysics.htm Simple simulations of single concepts
  • Physics Classroom: http://www.physicsclassroom.com/  Lots of lessons, simulations, solved problems, assessments, all related to physics.
  • NASA also has a wealth of resources for educators, including many simulations: http://search.nasa.gov/search/edFilterSearch.jsp?empty=true

Big Data/GIS [top]

• SHODOR – a national resource for computational science education, “Transforming Learning Through Computational Thinking"
  • Shodor MASTER Tools — "Our growing portfolio of MASTER tools will soon be fully integrated with new collaboration tools and online research facilities to create an authentic scientific experience. All of our simulations and supporting curriculum materials are designed in accordance with the new National Science Education Standards and the National Math Education Standards."
  • CSERD Data Models — "Each model includes one or more pieces of scientific software, clear instructions on how to use the software, and background theory describing the scientific application, the mathematical algorithm, and the computer architecture used in the model."
• CSERD– the computational science education reference desk
• Geographical Information Systems (GIS) resources -- http://edcommunity.esri.com

Pedagogy [top]

Technology standards come in several flavors:

1. Educational technology in the classroom (smartboards, computers, etc.)
2. Teaching students to be users and consumers of technology (keyboarding, word-processing, internet smarts, etc.)
3. Teaching students to be creators and analysts of technology.

I care most about (3) and assume that is what readers of this page are after.

Standards Resources:
• Oregon Department of Education (ODE) technology and national ISTE standards — http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=1880 — pretty much (2), however since these were adopted in 2008 it's only a few years before they are due to be redone.
• ISTE — http://www.iste.org/welcome.aspx
• ITEA, which I find to be much more of a (3), but not centered on computer science, computational thinking, or programming (which are not necessarily all the same thing) — http://www.iteaconnect.org/
• Their hardcopy booklet — http://www.iteea.org/TAA/PDFs/Taa_RandS.pdf
• ODE Science standards include Engineering Design as an analog to Science Inquiry (pp 25-6) — http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/subjects/science/curriculum/2009feb-adopted-k-h-science-standards.pdf
• CSTA Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science and NSF Exploring Computer Science Curriculum (early high school)

Some scaffolding:

• Joseph Kraycik — modeling and middle school mathematics
• Anchored Instruction and Its Relationship to Situated Cognition (pdf) — part of the ongoing work of John Bransford (formerly at Vanderbilt, now at UW) et al.
• http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/docs/ — NetLogo user manual; there is a tool “HubNet” to run real-time, participatory simulations (e.g., in a classroom) using computers or TI Graphing Calculators
  • There’s some interesting ongoing research documented here such as gaming to teach physics:http://ccl.northwestern.edu/rigd/
  • slew of modeling papers: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/cm/papers/ — including “Modeling across the curriculum” poster: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/abmplus/posterCandidate3b.ppt-noborder.pdf and more detail: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/mac/
  • “collaborative dynamic geometry — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/panda/
  • “An analysis of student patterns of exploration with NetLogo Models embedded in the Connected Chemistry curriculum“ — http://ccl.northwestern.edu/papers/AERA05-LevyWilensky.pdf
• Talk Aloud Paired Problem Solving – one method for collaborative teaching and learning --http://www.utexas.edu/academic/cte/sourcebook/teaching3.pdf

 

Competitions [top]

• OGPC, the Oregon Game Project Challenge run by the Techstart Education Foundation, now in its 5th year (2012).
• Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach Program, includes JFLL, FLL, FTC — www.ortop.org
• AFA CyberPatriot (http://www.uscyberpatriot.org/Pages/default.aspx) — "Now in its fourth phase, CyberPatriot IV is open to all high schools, Civil Air Patrol Units, JROTC Units, and accredited home school programs around the country. CyberPatriot is the premire national high school cyber defense competition that is designed to give hands on exposure to the foundations of cyber security. CyberPatriot is not a hacking competition. CyberPatiot's goal is to excite students about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education."