Computational Thinking for Everyone Jeannette M Wing Presidents

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

Outline • Computational Thinking • 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 2 Jeannette M. Wing

My Grand Vision for the Field • Computational thinking will be a fundamental skill used by everyone in the world by the middle of the 21 st 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, … CT for Everyone J. M. Wing, “Computational Thinking, ” CACM Viewpoint, March 2006, pp. 33 -35. http: //www. cs. cmu. edu/~wing/ 3 Jeannette M. Wing

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 5 Jeannette M. Wing

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 6 Jeannette M. Wing

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 7 Jeannette M. Wing

Research Implications CT for Everyone 8 Jeannette M. Wing

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 f. MRI data with machine learning CT for Everyone Credit: Live. Science 9 Jeannette M. Wing

CT in Other Sciences, Math, and Engineering 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 Credit: University of Minnesota Credit: NASA 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 CT for Everyone 10 Jeannette M. Wing

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 Credit: Wikipedia - Discovering E 8 Lie Group: 18 mathematicians, 4 years and 77 hours of supercomputer time (200 billion numbers). Profound implications for physics (string theory) - Four-color theorem proof Engineering (electrical, civil, mechanical, aero & astro, …) Credit: Wikipedia - 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 CT for Everyone 11 Jeannette M. Wing Credit: Boeing

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 My. Space, You. Tube - Statistical machine learning is used for recommendation and reputation services, e. g. , Netflix, affinity card CT for Everyone 12 Jeannette M. Wing

CT for Society Medicine - Robotic surgery - Electronic health records require privacy technologies - Scientific visualization enables virtual colonoscopy Humanities Credit: University of Utah - 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 CT for Everyone- Sherlock Project on crime 13 scene investigation Jeannette M. Wing

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

Educational Implications CT for Everyone 15 Jeannette M. Wing

Pre-K to Grey • K-6, 7 -9, 10 -12 • Undergraduate courses – Freshmen year • “Ways to Think Like a Computer Scientist” aka Principles of Computing – Upper-level courses • Graduate-level courses – Computational arts and sciences • E. g. , entertainment technology, computational linguistics, …, computational finance, …, computational biology, computational astrophysics • Post-graduate – Executive and continuing education, senior citizens – Teachers, not just students CT for Everyone 16 Jeannette M. Wing

Question and Challenge to Community What are effective ways of learning (teaching) computational thinking by (to) children? - What concepts can students best learn when? What should we teach when? What is our analogy to numbers in K, algebra in 7, and calculus in 12? - We uniquely also should ask how best to integrate The Computer with learning and teaching the concepts. CT for Everyone 17 Jeannette M. Wing

Simple Daily Examples • Looking up a name in an alphabetically sorted list • Standing in line at a bank, supermarket, customs & immigration • Putting things in your child’s knapsack for the day • Taking your kids to soccer, gymnastics, and swim practice • Cooking a gourmet meal • Cleaning out your garage • Storing away your child’s Lego pieces scattered on the LR floor • Doing laundry, getting food at a buffet • Even in grade school, we learn algorithms (long division, factoring, GCD, …) and abstract data types (sets, tables, …). – Linear: start at the top – Binary search: start in the middle – Performance analysis of task scheduling – Pre-fetching and caching – Traveling salesman (with more constraints) – Parallel processing: You don’t want the meat to get cold while you’re cooking the vegetables. – Keeping only what you need vs. throwing out stuff when you run out of space. – Using hashing (e. g. , by shape, by color) – Pipelining the wash, dry, and iron stages; plates, salad, entrée, dessert stations CT for Everyone 18 Jeannette M. Wing

External Community Response CT for Everyone 19 Jeannette M. Wing

External Community … • • Outside of CMU Outside of Computer Science Outside of Science and Engineering Outside of US • Impact on research and education through NSF CT for Everyone 20 Jeannette M. Wing

Research Impact CT for Everyone 21 Jeannette M. Wing

“Computational Thinking, ” Andrew Hebert (Director, MSR/Cambridge), p. 20, 2006.

Volume 440 Number 7083 pp 383 -580, March 23, 2006 CT for Everyone 23 Jeannette M. Wing

CT for Everyone 24 Jeannette M. Wing

Spearheaded by Alan Bundy CT for Everyone 25 Jeannette M. Wing

Also, report by Conrad Taylor on my talk at Grand Challenges in Computing Conference, British Computer Society, London, March 2008 CT for Everyone 26 Jeannette M. Wing

Reach Through NSF CT for Everyone 27 Jeannette M. Wing

CDI: Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation Computational Thinking for Science and Engineering • Paradigm shift – Not just our metal tools (transistors and wires) but also our mental tools (abstractions and methods) • It’s about partnerships and transformative research. – To innovate in/innovatively use computational thinking; and – To advance more than one science/engineering discipline. • Fortuitous timing for me … CT for Everyone 28 Jeannette M. Wing

CDI Response • 1800 Letters of Intent, 1300 Preliminary Proposals, 200 Final Proposals, 36 Awards • FY 08: ~$50 M invested by all directorates and offices CT for Everyone 29 Jeannette M. Wing

Range of Disciplines in CDI Awards • • • • • Aerospace engineering Atmospheric sciences Biochemistry Biophysics Chemical engineering Communications science and engineering Computer science Geosciences Linguistics Materials engineering Mathematics Mechanical engineering Molecular biology Nanocomputing Neuroscience Robotics Social sciences Statistical physics … advances via Computational Thinking CT for Everyone 30 Jeannette M. Wing

Range of Societal Issues Addressed • • • Cancer therapy Climate change Environment Visually impaired Water CT for Everyone 31 Jeannette M. Wing

Educational Impact CT for Everyone 32 Jeannette M. Wing

Colleges and Universities are Revisiting Curricula • Carnegie Mellon: Tom Cortina’s 15 -105 • 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 33 Jeannette M. Wing

CT for Everyone 34 Jeannette M. Wing

CT for Everyone © 2008 Microsoft Corporation Jeannette M. Wing

Reach Through NSF CT for Everyone 36 Jeannette M. Wing

CISE • CPATH – 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 37 Jeannette M. Wing

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 of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign University of Nebraska University of Texas, El Paso Utah State Villanova Virginia Tech Washington State CT for Everyone 38 Jeannette M. Wing

Broadening Participation • AP Revision – Academic Advisory group includes NSF, ACM, CSTA, university reps (e. g. , Cortina), and high school teachers • New Image for Computing – Working with Image of Computing and WGBH (Boston) • Alliances – e. g. , ARTSI (HBCU/R 1 Robotics, Touretzky, et al. ) CT for Everyone 39 Jeannette M. Wing

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 40 Jeannette M. Wing

Other Educational and Outreach Activities • • • Peter Denning’s “Rebooting Computing Summit”, Jan 2009 Andy van Dam is CRA-E “Education Czar” ACM Ed Council CS 4 HS: Lenore Blum’s vision: “CS 4 HS in every state!” Women@SCS Roadshow Image of Computing Task Force: Jill Ross, Rick Rashid, Jim Foley CT for Everyone 41 Jeannette M. Wing

Two and a Half Years Later: Research Computing Community NSF CMU NEH, ILMS Microsoft Computational Thinking CDI Center for CT all sciences and engineering computer science, arts, humanities, … CT for Everyone 44 Jeannette M. Wing

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 45 Jeannette M. Wing

Two and a Half Years Later: Education CRA-E Computing Community ACM-Ed CSTA NSF Rebooting National Academies Computational Thinking BPC CT for Everyone CPATH workshops AP 46 K-12 Jeannette M. Wing

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 47 Jeannette M. Wing

Bigger Picture: Societal and Political Issues • • • Climate Change Energy Environment Economics Human Behavior Sustainability Healthcare National security … Competitiveness, Innovation, Leadership CT for Everyone 48 Jeannette M. Wing

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 49 Jeannette M. Wing

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 50 Jeannette M. Wing

Long-term view • Analogy – 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 51 Jeannette M. Wing

Short-term agenda (suggestion) • Workshop 1 – Identify concepts/principles/skills • In parallel, work with or track other efforts and organizations. • Community input • Workshop 2 – Propose one or more models of “sequencing” the concepts – Propose a strategy for incorporating it in an early grade or K-12 curriculm. – Next steps? CT for Everyone 52 Jeannette M. Wing

Thanks for Helping to Spread the Word! Make computational thinking commonplace! To fellow faculty, students, researchers, administrators, teachers, parents, principals, guidance counselors, school boards, teachers’ unions, congressmen, policy makers, … CT for Everyone 53 Jeannette M. Wing

Thank you!

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