Computational thinking (CT) is broadly defined as the mental activity for abstracting problems and formulating solutions that can be automated. In an increasingly information-based society, CT is becoming an essential skill for everyone. To ensure that students develop this ability at the K-12 level, it is important to provide teachers with an adequate knowledge about CT and how to incorporate it into their teaching. This article describes a study on designing and introducing computational thinking modules and assessing their impact on preservice teachers’ understanding of CT concepts, as well as their attitude towards computing. Results demonstrate that introducing computational thinking into education courses can effectively influence preservice teachers’ understanding of CT concepts.

This workshop will provide CS educators with tools to conduct educational research. Primary objectives of this workshop are: (1) learn basic principles of educational research; (2) learn about educational research designs: qualitative vs. quantitative; experimental vs. quasi-experimental; case studies, survey; and (3) to practice designing research. This workshop will help participants make informed decisions when faced with limitations of educational research and collect empirical evidence about what works in the classroom. In addition, we will also discuss how to develop robust student outcome measures, such as surveys and tests.

As computational thinking becomes a fundamental skill for the 21st century, K-12 teachers should be exposed to computing principles. This paper describes the implementation and evaluation of a computational thinking module in a required course for elementary and secondary education majors. We summarize the results from open-ended and multiple-choice questionnaires given both before and after the module to assess the students' attitudes toward and understanding of computational thinking. The results suggest that given relevant information about computational thinking, education students' attitudes toward computer science becomes more favorable and they will be more likely to integrate computing principles in their future teaching.

This paper describes the development and initial evaluation of a new course ``Introduction to Computational Thinking'' taken by science majors to fulfill a college computing requirement. The course was developed by computer science faculty in collaboration with science faculty and it focuses on the role of computing and computational principles in scientific inquiry. It uses Python and Python libraries to teach computational thinking via basic programming concepts, data management concepts, simulation, and visualization. Problems with a computational aspect are drawn from different scientific disciplines and are complemented with lectures from faculty in those areas. Our initial evaluation indicates that the problem-driven approach focused on scientific discovery and computational principles increases the student's interest in computing.

As a user's computing environment grows from a single time-shared host to a network of specialized and general-purpose machines, the capability for the user to access all of these resources in a consistent and transparent manner becomes desirable. Instead of viewing commands as binary files, we expect the user to view commands as services provided by servers in the network. The user interacts with a personal workstation that locates and executes services on his behalf.

CSNET is built on the Department of Defense network (ARPANET), public packet-switched physical networks (Telenet), and a telephone-based relay network (Phonenet). Some CSNET sites have direct connections to ARPANET, some have direct connections to Telenet, and some have connections only to telephone-based relay machines. The chief objective of CSNET is to provide a network interconnection for all groups engaged in Computer Science Research.

Icon is a new programming language that includes a goal-directed expression evaluation mechanism.This mechanism is based on generators--expressions that are capable of producing more than one value.If the value produced by a generator does not lead to a successful result, the generator is automatically activated for an alternate value.Generators form an integral part of Icon and can be used anywhere.In addition, they form the basis for the string scanning facility and subsume some of the control expressions found in other languages.Several examples are given.