Communications of the ACM - Self managed systems
Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Education: Paving the way for computational thinking
Communications of the ACM - Designing games with a purpose
Thinking about computational thinking
Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
The present and future of computational thinking
Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Computational thinking (CT): on weaving it in
ITiCSE '09 Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Introducing computational thinking in education courses
Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Computational Thinking in Elementary and Secondary Teacher Education
ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE)
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Computational Thinking (CT) has been articulated as a "fundamental skill for everyone, not just for computer scientists" [10]. Almost all agree with the lofty goals of the initiative, to teach humanity the ability to see the world through the sharpened eyes of a computer scientist. Others have shared their vision of what CT is, how to pave the way [7], weave it into a curriculum [1, 2, 9], and what the effects might be [8]. However, what does it really mean to be a computational thinker? While it is helpful to see examples that show we're already engaged in CT (e.g., using a backpack is pre-fetching and caching), it is perhaps more valuable to see everyday situations that are transformed when viewed through a computational thinker's trained eyes (e.g., writing dates as YYYY-MM-DD so they'll sort correctly). We hope to present enough examples to satisfy a growing chorus of those who need more grounding, using a unique delivery format. Jeff Foxworthy is a popular and successful stand-up comedian, especially in rural areas of the southern United States [5]. His signature bit is to find subtle aspects of life that are common to "rednecks", a term used to describe "uneducated white farm laborers" (whose neck is red from sunburn) [3]. These observations are never meant to be mean-spirited, are told with acute comic timing, and audiences love them. Here are some of his best [4], using his template: If _____________________________, you might be a redneck! ...you think the last words to the Star Spangled Banner are 'Gentlemen, start your engines'... ...you get stopped by a state trooper, and when he asks you if you have an I.D. and you say, 'Bout what?'... ...you carried a fishing pole into Sea World... We will use a similar template and each of the four "stand up computational thinkers" will riff on observations of life as seen through CT eyes. We hope to provide enough examples that the (mostly CT) audience will feel compelled to join us in an "open mike" format and share their experiences. Whenever possible, we will channel Mr. Foxworthy and aim for the funny bone.