Dr. Elise Lockwood, Associate Professor, Oregon State University
Computational Thinking and Activity in STEM Education: What Happens When Math Students Engage with Python Code:
Computational thinking and activity are becoming an increasingly important aspect of what it means to conduct scientific and mathematical work. In light of this, there is a need for STEM education studies that examine the ways in which students engage with computational tools as they reason about scientific and mathematical concepts. In this talk, I review relevant literature on computational thinking in STEM and make a case for an increasing focus on computing in STEM education research. As an example of computational thinking and activity, I present results from a study in which undergraduate novice programmers engaged with tasks designed to use basic Python programming to teach particular combinatorial ideas. I highlight noteworthy aspects of students’ experiences with using computation in a mathematical context. I conclude by framing this work within ongoing efforts to better understand the nature of computational thinking and activity for undergraduate STEM students.
Please RSVP for lunch: tinyurl.com/STEMELRSVP [2]
Links
[1] https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/STEMinar-Series
[2] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ywhazhFhmxgyku7E296dyI1hWCDTkU6A003fsQ0tGNg/edit
[3] https://yale.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=c974e6c2-966f-4b66-8c69-a9af011a9f2d
[4] https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/sites/default/files/basic-page-supplementary-materials-files/dr._elise_lockwood_1.pdf
[5] https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/sites/default/files/basic-page-supplementary-materials-files/yale_talk_11.25.18_1.pdf
[6] https://ctl.yale.edu/people/jeremy-bradford
[7] mailto:jeremy.bradford@yale.edu