Learning through computational creativity

Reviewer: Amos O Olagunju

Evolving complex real-world problems require solutions that originate from several academic disciplines. But how should academic institutions be preparing K-12 teachers and non-computer science majors to participate in solving the emerging real-world problems__?__ Soh and colleagues offer perceptive ideas for revising the computer science curriculum and for designing introductory computer science courses for majors and non-majors. Undeniably, as the authors advocate, effective ideas for developing interdisciplinary computer science (ICS) courses that promote imaginative thinking and computational inspiration require collaboration among faculty members from diverse disciplines. Innovative thinking should: require computational knowledge and skills that enable students to acquire and use information outside their areas of specialty; challenge students to create new solutions; introduce students to conflicting situations to develop new strategies for problem solving; and enable students to recognize and reflect on new ideas. How should the instructors of ICS courses design and evaluate the computational creativity and improvement of students__?__ The authors call for the use of specific objectives and tasks that connect real-world activities to ICS concepts and ideas, as well as practical hands-on problem solving for ICS courses. They provide concrete examples of activities for engaging students in the analysis of design and reflections on solutions to real-world problems. These examples and pedagogical ideas have been successfully used to improve teaching and learning in four ICS courses. The statistical results show significant learning improvement for all students who solved real-world problems in the ICS courses. I encourage all educators to browse the insightful ICS curriculum perspectives in this paper and to weigh in on teaching and learning in courses for non-CS majors. Online Computing Reviews Service