Computational thinking

Computational Thinking is a new way of solving problems that gets its name because it uses many of the same techniques used by computer science. The term computational thinking was first used by Seymour Papert in 1996. Computational thinking can be used to algorithmically solve complicated problems of scale. Computational thinking is often used to solve problems of efficiency and to realize large improvements in efficiency through novel approaches to problem solving.
The concept of computational thinking is being spearheaded by the Center of Computational Thinking at Carnegie Mellon where their major activity is conducting PROBEs or PROBlem-oriented Explorations. These PROBEs are experiments that apply novel computing concepts to problems to show the value of computational thinking.
A PROBE experiment is generally a collaboration between a computer scientist and an expert in the field to be studied. The experiment will generally run for a year and is a way for Carnegie Mellon University to obtain funding. In general, a PROBE will seek to find a solution for a broadly applicable problem and avoid narrowly focused issues. Some examples of PROBE experiments are optimal kidney transplant logistics and how to create drugs that do not breed drug resistant viruses.

The phrase computational thinking was brought to the forefront of the computer science community as a result of an ACM Communications article on the subject by Jeannette M. Wing. The article suggested that thinking computationally was a fundamental skill for everyone, not just computer scientists; and argued for the importance of integrating computational ideas into other disciplines.

External links

• Computational Thinking article in the Scalable Game Design wiki
• Repenning, A., Webb, D., Ioannidou, A., Scalable Game Design and the Development of a Checklist for Getting Computational Thinking into Public Schools, The 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, SIGCSE 2010, (Milwaukee, WI), ACM Press.