On Computational Thinking

Article: Computational Thinking – What and Why? (Jeannette M. Wing, Carnegie Mellon University, 2011)

Last week I reviewed three articles on the ‘myth of the STEM crisis’. The articles suggested that there are now more STEM workers than ever before and that the current focus on increasing STEM graduates was unwarranted. However, one thing they did agree on was that increased computational thinking among school students is a good thing that would aid the students in whatever career path they chose.

“Computational thinking is used in the design and analysis of problems and their solutions. It is not just or all about computer science. The education benefits of being able to think computationally  – starting with abstraction, the process of defining problems – enhance and reinforce intellectual skills, and thus can be transferred to any domain.”

“Computational thinking overlaps with logical thinking and systems thinking. It includes algorithmic thinking and parallel thinking which in turn engage other kinds of thought processes, such as compositional reasoning, pattern matching, procedural thinking and recursive thinking.”

Educators like computational thinking because it is a foundation logic skill. It sits well with students of all ages and those that have a talent in this area can easy proceed to other forms of computer science. Those that don’t can enjoy the problem solving and logic aspects of computational thinking challenges. I consider it as pre-programming – the type of activity you can introduce to any student, regardless of their competency, and have them succeed.

The reason all three ‘anti STEM crisis’ articles focused on computational thinking, as opposed to coding, is that the basic logic it teaches can help people in any profession. Lawyers, doctors, accountants, marketing, sales, operations managers are all careers that respond positively to increased computational thinking. This is because it is a life skill, not a coding skill, that helps people break down complex problems into manageable pieces.