How to Teach Computational Thinking

by Stephen Wolfram

In a world where jobs are continually being outsourced to machines and algorithms, the question of how best to educate the next generation becomes more important with every year. Stephen Wolfram, author of A New Kind of Science and Idea Makers and creator of Wolfram|Alpha, says the answer is computational thinking. Wolfram defines computational thinking as "formulating things with enough clarity that one can tell a computer how to do them." Computational thinking provides the most direct link possible between idea and implementation, without the repetitiveness and minutia of basic programming languages. Wolfram walks the reader through the basics of the Wolfram Language, encouraging young minds to embrace these concepts, while allowing them to creatively explore beautiful visualizations and actual working code. The Wolfram Language is free for anyone with a web browser to experiment with and use.

Genres: Amazon

Kindle Edition

Published April 19, 2018

About the author

Stephen Wolfram is the founder & CEO of Wolfram Research, creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha & Wolfram Language, author of A New Kind of Science and other books, and the originator of Wolfram Physics Project.

Reviews

[Héctor Iván Patricio Moreno · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting although very limited thoughts to his system. I liked that the book contains experiences about teaching kids and I think it could be useful for trying it myself.

[Blake Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting.

[Tomek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I read this book I had thought that I would find something useful there, but it is just an advertisement for Wolfram Family products. Do not waste your time :)

[Roberto Rigolin F Lopes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wolfram is sharing his hands on experiences teaching kids to formulate things in a systematic way so computers can do the job. He used his own knowledge-based language letting the kids follow their own interests while interacting with a computer. This is priceless because he designed the language, he himself engaged with the kids, he uses simple straight to the point language in this text (no fancy jargons very often used by "experts") and, most importantly, he shares all the material he has been using in activities with kids. This is a gold mine for teachers.