Ways of Thinking in Informatics - a talk by peter purgathofer

Abstract

»Computational thinking« is one of the educational buzzterms that have dominated the discussion about what makes a good computer basic education. The scientific field informatics seems to be happy to have found their assumed »core« in computational thinking. With this on the table, it is time to return to the roots of the discipline and acknowledge the broad interdisciplinary nature of theory and practice of informatics. Ways of thinking in informatics is a novel introductory course for informatics students at TU Wien that tries to fan out the colorful bouquet of interdisciplinary paradigms of informatics, and discuss the principles and benefits — and the perils! – of nine different thinking traditions that contribute to the field. The talk discusses the concept, implementation, and reception of this course.