Microsoft Press Release: Microsoft, Carnegie Mellon Establish Center for Computational Thinking: "The Microsoft Carnegie Mellon Center for Computational Thinking... represents a long-term collaboration between Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Science Department and will support research in emerging areas of computer science, particularly those that can influence the thinking of other disciplines.
“Increasingly, scientists and researchers rely on computer science to enable them to sift through massive amounts of data and find breakthroughs that could provide new insights into the human body, the earth we live on and even the universe,” said Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research. “We are eager to explore this exciting new area of research with Carnegie Mellon.”
"The Microsoft Carnegie Mellon Center for Computational Thinking will support research in core computer science areas using an approach called problem-oriented explorations, pioneered by Carnegie Mellon’s ALADDIN Center. Researchers from a variety of fields will address specific, real-world problems; initial topics include privacy, e-commerce, multicore computing and embedded medical devices. In addition, the center will develop and disseminate courses and curricula suitable for graduate and undergraduate students, as well as K–12 classes.
“Computer technology has rapidly transformed education, commerce and entertainment, but — more profoundly — computational thinking is transforming how new science is discovered in fields as varied as biology, astronomy, statistics and economics,” said Wing.
Source: Microsoft Press Release on Center for Computational Thinking
What came first, computers or the humans that created them, programed them and use them?
ReplyDeleteLets NOT put the cart before the horse here.
If we did not think in terms of current general population knowledge/technology and in terms of our personal interest, then how well would we fit into society?
It took three hundred years for the hundu-arabic decimal system to overcome the calculating limitation of the roman numeral system. And there are even longer times before the general acceptance of Newton, Galileo, etc...
MS is not known for educating the end users, but rather for dumbing them down with silly limitations. Not to mention the crimes against the consumer, end user they have been charged with in anti-trust cases around the world. Have they genuinely changed enough to not doubt?
Ms. Wing has an extensive background in computing education. Perhaps she is so entrenched in it that she has lost the ability to see/think in terms most of the rest of us think in. Its not uncommon for one to perceive the world in terms of their focus, their interest, their environment.
But again, what came first, computers or the human that conceived all that computers are?
In the promotion of Abstraction and Automation of Abstractions and the idea that its not about programming but about conceptualization, there seems to be the forgotten need of a feedback loop in the learning process.
To the point, there is that which is fundamental or primary to the secondary idea of "computational thinking" and that is on the creation and use of abstractions. What we unavoidably do in using abstractions is to apply abstraction physics.
We began using abstractions as a baby or very young child, so it understandable that we could so easily skip over or take for granted the mechanics of abstraction. But machines, computers only do what we program them to. Where we see abstraction a computer sees as on and off transistor states.
So "computational thinking" really is nothing more than thinking in terms of methods of calculations that some other human came up with. And since when have we NOT done this, even before computer?
If we don't build upon what those before us have done, then how are we to advance.
What is important here is to not become deluded into thinking computer computations are anything more than automated human calculations.
But even more important is the understanding of ourselves and how it is possible for use to create and use abstractions, beyond all other recognized life forms.
There is an identification and definition of the underlying gears and bearings of our abstraction ability. Not only can these be taught in primary school and expanded upon in secondary school but can be presented in terms of a configuration of computer functionality that allows productivity and more important, the feedback loop of learning verification.
Because abstraction physics is the foundations of computing, building upon the basics to more complex computational concepts is a natural progression of application of such a configuration.
Similar as to how the symbols of the number system and basic addition concept can expand to advanced math. Only here you are not limited to the abstraction subset of mathematics but can define new abstractions as you go.
See: Abstraction Physics for a start and footnote links to expand with.