This project bridges the boundaries between computer science (CS) and natural sciences, as well as the gap between institutions of higher education and K-12 by teaching Computational Thinking (CT). Recent attention to CT as a "fundamental skill for everyone" is shifting the curricular focus in computing from programming to design and applications in such a way as to bring scientific thinking into mainstream education. It is producing an inventory of CT modules and assessment tools that are being developed for use in new undergraduate courses, including a general education introductory CT course and an upper-level Computational Scientific Thinking course for teacher candidates and STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics majors.
These courses are using a scalable game design. Through the progression from designing games to simulations, students are learning many skills including computer science concepts, computational problem-solving, mathematical modeling, analysis of system evolution through simulations and visualization, and experimentation with applications.
Computational science serves the nation as both a teaching pedagogy and a workforce strategy. In teaching, the project stimulates a systemic change in undergraduate education that reflects computation becoming an essential and permanent element in sciences. The project is providing CT skills to a wide audience of undergraduate students (CS & non-CS majors), including teacher candidates.
