research-article

Computational Thinking as a Liberal Study

Authors:

Dave Mason,

Irfan Khan,

Vadim FarafontovAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE '16: Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education

Pages 24 - 29

https://doi.org/10.1145/2839509.2844655

Published: 17 February 2016 Publication History

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Abstract

Computers and computational thinking are becoming ubiquitous in our world. They are part of the transportation systems we use, the security systems we confront, our entertainment systems, our communication systems, our financial systems, and even our social and political instruments. Computational thinking is a fundamental part of decision-making on a large and increasing number of fronts. It is sometimes hard for a computer scientist to imagine how people without access to those tools can navigate the world in an informed way.

We have designed a course to bring the social, historical, cultural and technical context of these systems to the attention of students and citizens who would not otherwise have access to them, so they can better understand the world in which they will live and work. The course is a Computer Science course because it is talking about the science of computers, albeit in an approachable form for an audience without any assumed previous programming experience.

The course ran in Winter 2014 and Winter 2015 meeting most of its goals, including engaging the non-traditional student who took it.

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630966
Paz JIbarra LHurtado J(2023)Development of technological tools in response to primary mental health care needs arising from the emergency caused by COVID-19 in Cauca2023 VI Congreso Internacional en Inteligencia Ambiental, Ingeniería de Software y Salud Electrónica y Móvil (AmITIC)10.1109/AmITIC60194.2023.10366351(1-8)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2023
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Index Terms

Computational Thinking as a Liberal Study
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computational thinking
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Context specific languages
      1. Visual languages

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Published In

SIGCSE '16: Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education

February 2016

768 pages

ISBN:9781450336857

DOI:10.1145/2839509

General Chairs:
Carl Alphonce
University at Buffalo
,
Jodi Tims
Baldwin Wallace University
,
Program Chairs:
Michael Caspersen
Aarhus University
,
Stephen Edwards
Virginia Tech University

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 17 February 2016

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SIGCSE '16

Sponsor:

SIGCSE

SIGCSE '16: The 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education

March 2 - 5, 2016

Tennessee, Memphis, USA

Acceptance Rates

SIGCSE '16 Paper Acceptance Rate 105 of 297 submissions, 35%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

Upcoming Conference

SIGCSE Virtual 2024

Sponsor:
sigcse

1st ACM Virtual Global Computing Education Conference

December 5 - 8, 2024

Virtual Event , NC , USA

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Cited By

View all

Zuckerman AJuavinett AStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)When Coding Meets Biology: The Tension Between Access and Authenticity in a Contextualized Coding ClassProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630966(1491-1497)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630966
Paz JIbarra LHurtado J(2023)Development of technological tools in response to primary mental health care needs arising from the emergency caused by COVID-19 in Cauca2023 VI Congreso Internacional en Inteligencia Ambiental, Ingeniería de Software y Salud Electrónica y Móvil (AmITIC)10.1109/AmITIC60194.2023.10366351(1-8)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/AmITIC60194.2023.10366351
Dodds ZMorgan MPopowski LCoxe HCoxe CZhou KBush ELibeskind-Hadas RSherriff MMerkle LCutter PMonge ASheard J(2021)A Biology-based CS1Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/3408877.3432469(796-801)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3408877.3432469
Figueiredo JGarcía-Peñalvo F(2019)Teaching and learning strategies of programming for university coursesProceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality10.1145/3362789.3362926(1020-1027)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3362789.3362926
Figueiredo JLopes NGarcía-Peñalvo F(2019)Predicting Student Failure in an Introductory Programming Course with Multiple Back-PropagationProceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality10.1145/3362789.3362925(44-49)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3362789.3362925
Figueiredo JGarcía-Peñalvo F(2018)Building Skills in Introductory ProgrammingProceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality10.1145/3284179.3284190(46-50)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2018
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O'Hara KBurke KRuggiero DAnderson SDavoli RGoldweber MRößling GPolycarpou I(2017)Linking Language & Thinking with CodeProceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3059009.3059018(269-274)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2017
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