ITU-T Kaleidoscope 2010 Beyond the Internet? - Innovations for future networks and services

1. CAN Computational thinking REDUCE Marginalization in the future internet? ITU-T Kaleidoscope 2010Beyond the Internet? - Innovations for future networks and services Prof Peter Wentworth Rhodes University, South Africa p.wentworth@ru.ac.za

2. Outline • Our problem • Computational thinking • Our intervention • Some speculation • Conclusions and suggestions

3. Our Problem • We drive Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) in South Africa • Widely regarded as a primary driver for innovation and economic growth • But we fail badly, especially in marginalized groups • Poor mathematical performance • Poor productive disposition towards maths and technology

4. So what we have … International Avg South Africa

5. Partly to blame? • Apartheid policies deemed good quality Science and Maths an “unnecessary luxury” for those destined to be semi-skilled workers • Under-resourced schools, poor teaching • Current political and past social contexts create forms of dependence ... • Who you know often trumps performance • Individualism and excellence is sometimes disparaged • Undermines human potential, resourcefulness, and the message that SET skills are valuable

6. My response: http://www.BingBee.com • Mainly logic games, maths, reading, videos. Through-the-glass kiosks

7. Computational Thinking (CT) • Emphasizes procedural knowledge • Adapts techniques from Computer Science to problems in other domains • Made popular in 2006 CACM Viewpoint article in by Jeannette Wing from CMU • Pushes idea that it is for everyone • Suggests it will become fourth pillar of thinking skills alongside Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

8. Computational Thinking Examples

9. Computational Thinking also encompasses elements like Abstractions Notation Representation Algorithms Scalability Recursion “Unplugged” algorithms and games

10. Our intervention • Analysis of our BingBee activities and service courses revealed very little emphasis on CT • We chose five themes: • Abstraction • Programming • Finite State Machines • Algorithms • Graph Structures

11. RuBoT – Programming and Abstraction

12. RuBoT notes Program the robot to move, turn, jump and light the blue tiles Visual programming and execution model No loops, conditionals, or variables Emphasized the “state of the system” and its transitions Step-by-step traced execution Functions provide abstraction Reinforced with folding editor and comment mechanism As user progresses through the levels, it requires increasing ability to “find repeating patterns” and to factor them out into functions.

13. Finite State Machines States, events, actions, transitions Draw state diagrams for cellphones Spreadsheet-like table to “code up” the logic Game to explore black boxes / cave system and “discover the states and transitions” State search problem – get students across the bridge before batteries in torch run out Non-deterministic money changing machine

14. Money-Changing Machine

15. Minimal Spanning Trees Muddy City, http://www.csunplugged.org

16. Some Speculation • Internet has seen shift from centralized content to Web 2.0: • Lots of Do-It-Yourself content • Social networking and sharing dominant • Services could also migrate to D.I.Y. as we mature each of these axes: • More computational thinking skills in users hands, • Easier mechanisms to express service logic, • Standards for web services interaction, • Network operators expose useful service building blocks

17. Building Service Logic could learn from TIM (The Incredible Machine, Sierra)

18. Do-It-Yourself Service Example On Thursdays between 8am and 9am, the gardener will request access by sending an SMS from <number>. Respond by disarming burglar alarm circuits 6 and 7; unlock the tool shed; open the front gate. If the weather service predicts a sunshine, and the grass has not been cut in the previous 14 days, send a request to the grass-mowing service to arrive between 11am and 3pm today. Revert burglar alarm circuits at 4pm.

19. Speculations about Computational Thinking • Is Jeannette Wing correct? • Will we be teaching CT as a fourth pillar alongside Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic?

20. Can CT reinforce, or even replace, some school Maths? • We teach maths mainly for its indirect development of cognitive abilities... • Logical thinking • Abstraction and structure • Precise notation and formalisms • Pattern recognition • Problem solving • But CT can be a carrier of all these too!

21. Computational Thinking holds a promise ... Procedural knowledge is becoming more relevant as computers are everywhere Can we sidestep some of the deeply unproductive mental disposition that is too often associated with Maths?

22. Our Next Steps ... Understand the CT components better Introduce assessments of procedural and CT skills into competence tests

23. Conclusions • Address the Digital Divide by focussing on the marginalization in education • Our new educational tools and opportunities are • Deep-reach Internet, everywhere • Ubiquitous computational devices • Computational thinking skills • Do-it-yourself services