An informatics perspective on computational thinking
James Walden, Maureen Doyle, Rudy Garns, Zachary P. Hart · 2013
In this paper, we examine computational thinking and its connections to critical thinking from the perspective of in- formatics. We developed an introductory course for students in our College of Informatics, which includes majors rang- ing from journalism to computer science. The course cov- ered a set of principles of informatics, using both lectures and active learning sessions designed to develop informat- ics and computational thinking skills. The set of principles was drawn from a wide set of sources, and included broad principles like those of Denning and Loidl, as well as more limited principles related to topics like universal computa- tion and undecidability. We evaluated the change in both computational and critical thinking skills over the course of the semester, using a well-known validated critical thinking test and a computational thinking test of our own devising.