Computer Science 

What is it?

Computer science is the art of blending human ideas and digital tools to increase problem solving power. With applications ranging from creating art and music to saving lives, computer science is becoming an integral part of all innovative thoughts and ideas. By influencing students to identify a problem and then providing the technical skills necessary to solve the problem, computer science is a means for causing positive change in the world.

Computational thinking

Bold Idea uses the operational definition for computational thinking that was written by the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE). Computational thinking is a problem-solving process that includes (but is not limited to) the following characteristics:

  • Logically organizing and analyzing data to draw conclusions
  • Representing data through abstractions such as models and simulations

Google for Education follows a similar definition dividing computational thinking into four parts:

  1. Decomposition: Breaking down a big problem into the smaller problems that make it up
  2. Pattern recognition: Finding similarities between things
  3. Pattern generalization and abstraction: Pulling out differences to make one solution work for multiple problems
  4. Algorithm design: A list of steps that you can follow to finish a task

Computational thinking is essential to the development of computer applications, but it can also be used to support problem solving across all disciplines, including math, science and the humanities.