Overview of the Discipline of Computer Science - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 25

for solving computer science problems. See also, for example, Denning ( 2005 ) for
different perspectives of computer science.
One important resource for the discussion about the nature of computer science
is the 1989 Computing As a Discipline report of the ACM Task Force (Denning
et al. 1989 ) . The task force declares that “the three major paradigms, or cultural
styles, by which we approach our work, provide a context for our definition of the
discipline of computing” (p. 10). Specifically, they present the following three para-
digms on which computer science is based: theory, rooted in mathematics; abstrac-
tion (modeling), rooted in the experimental scientific method; and design, rooted in
engineering. Another source for the discussion about the definition of computer sci-
ence is the lectures given by winners of the Turing Award, who, at least in the first
20 years of the discipline addressed this theme (Ashenhurst and Graham, 1987 ). We
elaborate on the Turing Award in Sect. 3.4.
A related interesting point to address is the name of the discipline. First, as we
just noted, computer science is not a pure science. Further, some computer scien-
tists claim that it is not a science at all. For example, Abelson et al. ( 1996 ) say that
“Computer science is not a science, and its ultimate significance has little to do with
computers.” 1 Second, the term computer, which appears in the name of the disci-
pline, is misleading. In this context, it is relevant to quote Edsger Dijkstra, one of
the pioneers of the field who said that “Computer science is no more about comput-
ers than astronomy is about telescopes.”
From a pedagogical perspective, according to Ragonis ( 2009 ), an examination
of the high school computer science curricula, implemented in different countries
throughout the world, shows a lack of uniformity in the interpretation various bod-
ies and countries give to curricula in computer science. The different approaches
even appear in the different names of the curricula, such as information technology,
information and communication technology, information systems, computer sci-
ence, informatics, computer engineering, and software engineering. Sometimes, the
differences between the approaches imply significant differences in the high school
curricula.
Clearly, each teacher should be familiar with both the contents of the filed he or
she is teaching and the nature of the field. It is suggested that this claim is ampli-
fied in the context of computer science education due to the fact different computer
scientists conceive it differently. Activities 1 and 2 aim at increasing the prospective
computer science teachers' awareness to these issues.
Activity 1: The Nature of Computer Science
This activity is based on five stages in which the students explore the nature
of the discipline of computer science.
• Stage A: Explain what computer science is, work in pairs
The students are asked to explain what computer science is to someone
who is neither a computer scientist nor a computer science student. It can
1 See also Hal Abelson's 10-min talk on What is “Computer Science”? at http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v = zQLUPjefuWA.