C5; Scientific and Computational Thinking

Science

A system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method.

Importance of Science

Science is important because:

• It advances our understanding of the world and our place in it.

• Scientific advances can lead to practical applications (tech, medicine).

Science

A system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method.

Importance of Science

Science is important because:

• It advances our understanding of the world and our place in it.

• Scientific advances can lead to practical applications (tech, medicine).

Where is modern sciences roots?

They trace back to the greek natural philosophers.

Is natural philosophy “pre-scientific”?

Greek natural philosophy is “pre-scientific”, since it relied on contemplation/observation, but not experimentation.

Algorithm 1

Finding the oldest person:

1. Line up all people along one wall.

2. Ask first person to state name and birthday, write this down.

3. Everyone after:

   • Ask person name and birthday

   • If birthday is earlier than the birthday on paper, cross out old information and write down the new name and birthday.

4. When you reach the end of the line, the name and birthday of the oldest person will be written on the paper.

   • SIMPLE

Algorithm 1 Analysis

1, It works because it finds the oldest person.

• The amount of time to find the oldest person is proportional to the number of people.

  • This algorithm works, but it does not scale well if the number of people gets big.

• SIMPLE

Algorithm 2

1. Line up all people along wall

2. As long as there is more than one person in the line, repeatedly:

   • Have people pair up

   • Ask each pair to compare their birthdays

   • request that the younger of the two leave the line.

3. When there is only one person left in line, that person is the oldest.

   • EFFECIENT

Algorithm Analysis 2

2, works since oldest person in a pair never sits.

• The time needed to find the oldest person is proportional to the number of rounds it takes to shrink the line down to one person.

  • Takes less time

  • If amount of people is doubled, the time needed increases by the cost of one more comparison.

    • EFFICENT

Decomposition

Breaking a large, complex problem into smaller, more manageable problems.

• Tasks that will need to be performed:

  • Systematically process each person

  • Be able to determine a person’s age

  • Record the names/ages so that will know the oldest at the end.

Pattern matching

Recognizing how solutions to similar problems into smaller, more manageable problems.

• Learn from past experiences that were similar.

  • Lining the people up will make it easier to cover everyone.

  • Pencil and paper are effective for simple tasks like these.

Abstraction

Focusing on important details while ignoring irrelevant information.

• There are a lot of characteristics we don’t care about (hair color, middle)

  • If born on the same day, we will consider the same age.

  • If more than one “oldest” person, any one will do.

Algorithms

Designing and implementing the solution in the form of an algorithm.

• Can now devise an algorithm, step by step sequence of instructions, to solve this.

Computational Thinking

A problem solving approach that involves expressing problems and their solutions in ways that a computer could execute.

• Coined by Papert in 1980, made popular by Jeannette Wing in 2006.

Characteristics of Computational Thinking

• Decomposition

• Pattern matching

• Abstraction

• Algorithms

Consistency

A measure of how close the results are each time you conduct the experiment.

Accuracy

A measure of how close the results are to the correct (or expected) value.

Scientific method

1. Observe a phenomenon

2. Hypothesize how it works

3. Design an experiment to test it

4. Experiment to confirm of deny it

5. Analyze the results

6. Revise or refine the hypothesis

Thales

Was the first to break from mythology.

• observed and devised theories about nature.

  • Pre-greek natural philosopher

Plato

Proposed a grand theory of cosmology.

• Claimed heavenly bodies move uniformly in circles, because of their divine, geometric perfection.

• Believed observation was confused and impure, truth was found through contemplation

  • Pre-greek philosopher

Aristotle

Proposed a common sense vision of the natural world that stood for 2,000 years.

• Studied and wrote on cosmology, physics, biology, anatomy, logic

• Placed greater emphasis on observation than Plato, but still not experimental.

  • Greek pre-science philosopher

What is “algorithm” named after?

Named after Persian scholar “Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarismi”