CP1.5 - What is computer science?
Background
So far in this unit you have read a broad set of materials from a variety of sources. Many of these were selected because they include some combination of:
- attempt to explain what CS actually is as a discipline in K-12 education
- explains the rationale behind the inclusion of CS in K-12 education
- define elements of what topics/issues are appropriate for CS in K-12 education
We wrap up by summarizing those ideas.
Assignment
What is Computer Science
For this activity I would like you to summarize our readings. In other words, after all that reading, how do YOU answer the question "What is Computer Science?"
I recognize that, on its own, this is a fairly simple question and likely could be answered with only two or three sentences. In fact, many sources attempt to do exactly that.
But I want this reflection to be more than that. In order to fully consider this "simple" question I want submitted reflections to specifically include elements of the following subquestions:
- How would you define CS after completing these readings?
- How does this definition fit into how you view computers and computer science as a discipline?
- Is there anything "new" about your definition of computer science that came out of these readings?
- How does this definition fit into what your school district is doing (or plans to do) when addressing CS with students?
- What issues do you still struggle with in regards to defining computer science?
I really want this to be a single, well thought out reflection essay and not simply 2-3 sentence answers to these questions. I would expect a high quality response to be 600-1000 (or more) words [NOTE: I really do hate prescribing word counts. And I absolutely will not word count in order to evaluate your responses. But it is one of the easiest and clearest ways for me to indicate the scale of the solutions that I am looking for in the responses. ]
Evaluation
- This activity uses my standard "Checkpoint Evaluation" process.
- To submit your work you should word process your entire reflection (including the final, self analysis) and save/print as a PDF.
- You should then look on Blackboard for the submission link for this activity.