TU Wien Informatics

20 Years

Computational Thinking: Essential Tensions and Debates

  • 2019-12-04
  • Doctoral School

Matti Tedre (University of Eastern Finland) speaks about different approaches to the concepts of Computational Thinking in science and education.

Computational Thinking: Essential Tensions and Debates

A few decades into the digital era, scientists discovered that thinking in terms of computation made possible an entirely new way of organizing scientific investigation; eventually, every field had a computational branch: computational physics, computational biology, computational sociology, for instance. More recently, “computational thinking” has become part of the K-12 school curriculum. There are a large number of initiatives to teach computational thinking in schools and in higher education, and funding has flowed in.

But what is computational thinking? This talk discusses a number of sticking points between different conceptions of computational thinking. The talk anchors different viewpoints to CT into the history of science and computing and research in computing education.

About Matti Tedre

Matti Tedre is a professor at School of Computing, University of Eastern Finland, and the author of “Computational Thinking” (with Peter J. Denning; MIT Press, 2019) and “The Science of Computing” (CRC Press, 2015).

Note for Students

The lecture series of research talks by the visiting professors of the Vienna PhD School of Informatics can also be credited as an elective course for students of Master’s programs of computer science: LVA 195.072 Current Trends in Computer Science.

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