computational thinking in egypt
DESCRIPTION
A proposal I wrote for "Lemasr", an organization for supporting development in Egypt. I thought the information contained within might be useful to more people.Note: Pages 10-15 were taken from a presentation by Jeanette M. Wing, with permission. The original presentation is here: http://exploringcs.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Wing08.pptTRANSCRIPT
The 21st century
The face of science is changing Biology → Genetics Chemistry → Nanotechnology Physics → Quantum mechanics
How about mathematics – a basis for all sciences? Mathematics → Computer Science!
Computer Science?
An important part of maths Formalized in the 1930s (before the electronic
computer). Maybe better called 'Algorithmic science' Existed without a name for thousands of years,
ancient Greeks, Muslim mathematicians, Indians...etc have been working with algorithms.
It is about formalizing thinking.
Algorithms
An Algorithm is a solution for accomplishing a goal that can be executed mechanically: We use algorithms in all of life:
الخطط العسكرية خط النتاج في المصنع إعراب الجمل الجراءات الحكومية نظم إدارة الشركات
AlgorithmsAlgorithms (and computation) also exist in
science: Bio-informatics Computational Physics Computational chemistry Computational botany Currently in progress: Computational law, social
studies, history, economics, psychology...etc...etc.
Algorithms are here scientific tools, not just computerized applications.
Algorithms exist everywhere...
Children games. Primary School maths (e.g. multiplication/
division). Cooking/ recipes Social protocols. Art (e.g Islamic decorations).
What do we want?A: We have almost a century of CS research.
B: CS/Algorithms is becoming part of science, business, art and life.
If we put “A” and “B” together, we realize that we need to ask: Why aren't we using CS in all those activities? Why don't (general) universities include
computational aspects in their courses & research? Why aren't we teaching algorithmic/CS concepts in
schools? This – in essence – is Computational
thinking.
CT for Everyone Jeannette M. Wing
CT in Other Sciences, Math, and Engineering
Biology - Shotgun algorithm expedites sequencing of human genome - DNA sequences are strings in a language - Protein structures can be modeled as knots - Protein kinetics can be modeled as computational processes - Cells as a self-regulatory system are like electronic circuits
Credit: Wikipedia
Brain Science - Modeling the brain as a computer - Vision as a feedback loop - Analyzing fMRI data with machine learning
Credit: LiveScience
CT for Everyone Jeannette M. Wing
CT in Other Sciences, Math, and Engineering
Geology- Modeling the earth’s surface to the sun, from the inner core to the surface- Abstraction boundaries and hierarchies of complexity model the earth and our atmosphere
Credit: NASACredit: University of Minnesota
Chemistry [Madden, Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburgh]
- Atomistic calculations are used to explore chemical phenomena- Optimization and searching algorithms identify best chemicals for improving reaction conditions to improve yields
CT for Everyone Jeannette M. Wing
CT in Other Sciences, Math, and Engineering
Mathematics - Discovering E8 Lie Group: 18 mathematicians, 4 years and 77 hours of supercomputer time (200 billion numbers). Profound implications for physics (string theory) - Four-color theorem proof
Credit: Wikipedia
Credit: Wikipedia
Astronomy - Sloan Digital Sky Server brings a telescope to every child - KD-trees help astronomers analyze very large multi-dimensional datasets
Credit: SDSS
Engineering (electrical, civil, mechanical, aero & astro,…) - Calculating higher order terms implies more precision, which implies reducing weight, waste, costs in fabrication- Boeing 777 tested via computer simulation alone, not in a wind tunnel
Credit: Boeing
CT for Everyone Jeannette M. Wing
CT for Society
Economics - Automated mechanism design underlies electronic commerce, e.g., ad placement, on-line auctions, kidney exchange - Internet marketplace requires revisiting Nash equilibria model
Social Sciences - Social networks explain phenomena such as MySpace, YouTube - Statistical machine learning is used for recommendation and reputation services, e.g., Netflix, affinity card
CT for Everyone Jeannette M. Wing
CT for Society
Law - Stanford CL approaches include AI, temporal logic, state machines, process algebras, petri nets - POIROT Project on fraud investigation is creating a detailed ontology of European law - Sherlock Project on crime scene investigation
Medicine - Robotic surgery - Electronic health records require privacy technologies - Scientific visualization enables virtual colonoscopy
Credit: University of Utah
CT for Everyone Jeannette M. Wing
CT for Society
Entertainment- Games- Movies - Dreamworks uses HP data center to renderShrek and Madagascar - Lucas Films uses 2000-node data center to produce Pirates of the Caribbean.
Credit: Dreamworks SKG
Credit: Carnegie Mellon University
Sports - Lance Armstrong’s cycling computer tracks man and machine statistics - Synergy Sports analyzes digital videos NBA games
Credit: Wikipedia
Arts - Art (e.g., Robotticelli) - Drama - Music - Photography
Credit: Christian Moeller
CT for Everyone Jeannette M. Wing
Meanwhile, in the US & UK... In 2009 an event about computational thinking was
sponsored by ACM, CRA, CSTA, IEEE, Microsoft, NCWIT, NSF, and SWE...
CSEdWeek is sponsored by ABI, ACM, BHEF, CRA, CSTA, Dot Diva, Google, Globaloria, Intel, Microsoft, NCWIT, NSF, SAS, and Upsilon Pi Epsilon
In 2010, the British Royal Society announced an 18-month project to look “at the way that computing is taught in schools, with support from 24 organizations from across the computing community including learned societies, professional bodies, universities, and industry”http://royalsociety.org/Education-Policy/Projects/.
Comp. Thinking in Egypt
Basic assumptions CT is an ongoing research work, there is no
“ready-made” CT plan that can be just applied. We'd be joining an ongoing research effort
alongside the rest of the world – let's be players, not spectators!
We can't just take the works of others and apply it; experience doesn't come for free.
But we need to start implementing what we can during all the research.
Comp. Thinking in Egypt
Basic assumptions While CT research is being done, we need to
prepare society for it. Not everyone understands the importance of
Computational thinking. A lot of people will confuse it with computer
programming, or even operating computers. من بعد أمية الكمبيوتر؛ المية البرمجية ومن بعدها المية الحوسبية... We need social outreach.
Comp. Thinking in EgyptBasic assumptions
CT has both research and educational aspects. If we teach schoolchildren CS concepts first, we can
use them to teach geometry, Arabic grammar, science...etc
Bonus: unify concepts; avoid repetition. Teaching algebra in schools was “impossible” centuries
ago. But how do we do that?? Needs research & lots of
experiments. Existing research: Piaget, Constructionist learning,
SIGCSE... Existing efforts: CS Unplugged, Computational fairy
tales...etc
Comp. Thinking in EgyptOur basic plan
3 Stages:− Research and outreach via the “CT/Egypt” Center.− Test implementation.− Adaptation at national level.
Research & outreach
Test impl.
Adaptation
“The future”
Research Implementation
Research Implementation
Research Implementation
Research Implementation
Research & Outreach Directions
Research education methods Actual CT research in biology, linguistics,...etc Outreach, outreach, outreach!
Approach Engage all society, create a “gravity field”. Use all possible expertise, inside & outside Egypt. Encourage team members & others to do Ph.D
research in CT. Take a scientific, deep approach as much as possible.
Research & Outreach Practical, not just theoretical!
Experiment on real children at schools, training centers.
Have reusable course materials, publish books, papers, attend conferences.
Talk with forward-thinking university professors about new CT courses in accounting, linguistics, medicine...etc
Have a commercial arm to create products (possibly license patents...) to further sustain development.
We shall not wait for research to end before producing results.
Test implementation We need to experiment on having a full school
curriculum based on CT concepts. Either deal with a selection of the best schools in
Egypt; or possibly create a specialized school “ المدرسة.to be a model for future schools ”الفكرحوسبية
The same for Universities Carnegie-Mellon is already “computationalizing” their
business, social studies, art,...etc schools. Learn from their models and others, apply our own
experiments.
Full adaptation:المكونات المطلوبة
.مناهج قابلة للتطبيق.ادوات تعليمية حديثة من لغات برمجة، كتب، اختراعات.تجارب ناجحة على مدارس وجامعات متخصصة تقبل للفكرة من المجتمع وتبني لها من المفكرين
والمؤسسات. بتIرJقاعدة عريضة من الباحثين، المؤلفين، المعلمين قد د
وتشبعت بالفكرة.:الخطوات التالية
تطبيق التفكير الحوسبي على مستوى مدارس مصروجامعاتها، نقل الخبرة للوطن العربي، المستقبل!
المستقبل التفكير الحوسبي هو النهضة العلمية القادمة، بآثار تقابل
النهضة الوروبية.:لدينا ثلث اختيارات
.التخلف عنها.السبق إليها.الوقوف على قدم المساواة فيها
ماذا يحدث لو "تحوسب" المجتمع؟
Assistance required Help acquiring funding. Media support (press, TV, conferences...) Expert support (university professors, educators) Later: expert support on how to approach “Egypt”,
in the form of universities, companies, the public process...etc
A partnership :)
Credits
Slides 10-15 Were taken (with permission) from a presentation: “Computational thinking for everyone”, by Prof. Jeanette M. Wing.
The presentation can be found here:
http://exploringcs.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Wing08.ppt