DocumentCode :
148308
Title :
Fostering computational thinking in engineering education: Challenges, examples, and best practices
Author :
Gross, Sebastian ; Kim, Mischa ; Schlosser, Joachim ; Lluch, Dan ; Mohtadi, Coorous ; Schneider, Dorian
Author_Institution :
MathWorks GmbH, Ismaning, Germany
fYear :
2014
fDate :
3-5 April 2014
Firstpage :
450
Lastpage :
459
Abstract :
Computational Thinking is a core capability for most engineers. The term summarizes a set of skills needed to transform real-life challenges into problems that can be solved with the help of a computer and to apply computer-based solutions to questions at hand. This mindset is fundamental to almost every engineering task. However, teaching Computational Thinking is a great challenge for educators worldwide. In designing and implementing university curricula, one has to take an increasing number of arguments into consideration. Technological progress requires the design, creation, and analysis of increasingly large and complex systems. Engineering working environments and tasks demand interdisciplinary teams and close communication between involved groups. In designing engineering curricula, these factors need to be considered and the necessary skills must be implicitly or explicitly developed. This paper highlights three examples of classes and projects aimed at enabling students to develop and increase Computational Thinking through systematic introduction of computational tools. From these successful case studies, the paper derives six best practices for fostering Computational Thinking in engineering education. A review of several examples is given, that are used to highlight and extract best practices. This provides a comprehensive overview of the relationships and simplifies the application of the aforementioned principles to course and curriculum designs.
Keywords :
educational administrative data processing; educational courses; educational institutions; engineering education; teaching; computational thinking; computational tools; computer-based solutions; course design; curriculum designs; curriculum development; engineer skills; engineering curricula; engineering education; engineering task; engineering working environments; interdisciplinary teams; teaching; technological progress; university curricula; Computers; Educational institutions; Engineering education; Hardware; MATLAB; Robot sensing systems; computational thinking; curriculum development; education concepts specific for engineering education; education tools; engineering skill set; industry and engineering education; integrated curriculum; project based learning;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2014 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Istanbul
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/EDUCON.2014.6826132
Filename :
6826132
Link To Document :
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