Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
to provide an overview of the discipline of computer science, for several reasons.
First, they are cross-curriculum topics which may foster one's attempts to acquire
wider understanding of the discipline; second, these two ideas shaped major parts
of the history of computer science; and third, these concepts provide cognitive tools
to think with, which are considered as part of computer science.
This chapter further elaborates on the following topics:
• What is computer science? (Sect. 3.2)
• History of computer science (Sect. 3.3)
• Computer scientists (Sect. 3.4)
• Social issues of computer science (Sect. 3.5)
• Programming paradigms (Sect. 3.6)
• Computer science soft ideas (Sect. 3.7)
• Computer science as an evolving discipline (Sect. 3.8)
• Computer science—an integrated and integral part of other disciplines (Sect. 3.9)
For each topic, we first explain its meaning and its importance and relevance in the
context of computer science education, and then, suggest several activities which
deal with the said topic that can be facilitated in the Methods of Teaching Computer
Science (MTCS) course.
The different topics and activities that the chapter deals with should not neces-
sarily be addressed in sequential lessons and can be spread over the MTCS course.
We recommend that each instructor incorporate these topics in the course when he
or she feels that it is important and relevant to highlight the said topic in order to
provide a broad perspective of the discipline of computer science. Such a decision
may be based on different considerations. First, the instructor may notice that stu-
dents' image of the discipline is too narrow (e.g., they are either not aware of the
history of computer science or overemphasize programming-oriented aspects); sec-
ond, when a specific computer science topic is addressed in the MTCS course, and
it is relevant to associate it with one of the above topics (e.g., when the teaching of
Turing machine or Dijkstra's Algorithm are discussed, it is relevant to mention the
history of the discipline, in general, and the pioneers who shaped it, whose names
appear in these concepts, in particular); and finally, when, from a pedagogical per-
spective, the instructor finds it relevant to diversify the course content by addressing
topics related to the nature of the discipline rather than its core scientific topics.
3.2
What Is Computer Science?
The question “what is computer science?” does not have a single answer; different
scholars emphasize different aspects of the field. Nevertheless, there is an agree-
ment that computer science is a multifaceted field that encompasses scientific and
engineering aspects, which are manifested in algorithmic problem-solving pro-
cesses, for which computational thinking skills (Wing 2006 ), and sometimes also
artistic and creative thinking, are required. It is also widely agreed that computer
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