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MPCT: media propelled computational thinking

Published: 10 March 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Media-Propelled Computational Thinking (MPCT - pronounced impact) is a course designed to introduce programming in the context of engaging problems in media computation, math, and physics. Programming concepts are introduced as incremental steps needed to solve pragmatic problems students already understand. The problems, graphical API, and hands-on program features are intended to expose fundamental concepts in mathematics and quantitative science.
MPCT is offered in an entering students program for freshmen who plan to specialize in a variety of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and non-STEM subjects. The curriculum is intended to strengthen student intuition and interest in mathematical modeling and programming by engaging students in the direct manipulation of simple mathematical systems that model and display familiar physical phenomena. MPCT uses programs as concrete and manipulatable examples of fundamental concepts to engage a diverse range of students including women and underrepresented minorities.
Variants of MPCT are being developed for high schools, and as a means to introduce computational science to upper division undergraduates studying non-computational STEM disciplines. This paper provides an overview of MPCT and representative problem studies including models of ballistics and resonant systems. The evaluation plan is described and very preliminary results are presented.

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  • (2021)Educational Initiatives to Increase Diversity in CS1 Courses: A Literature Mapping of U.S. efforts2021 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE49875.2021.9637445(1-8)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2021
  • (2019)A Systematic Review of Computational Thinking Approach for Programming Education in Higher Education InstitutionsProceedings of the 19th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3364510.3364521(1-10)Online publication date: 21-Nov-2019
  • (2014)Novice Programming Environments. Scratch & App InventorProceedings of the 2014 Workshop on Interaction Design in Educational Environments10.1145/2643604.2643613(1-7)Online publication date: 9-Jun-2014
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cover image ACM Conferences
SIGCSE '10: Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
March 2010
618 pages
ISBN:9781450300063
DOI:10.1145/1734263
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 10 March 2010

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  1. computational thinking
  2. cs-zero
  3. first year programs

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View all
  • (2021)Educational Initiatives to Increase Diversity in CS1 Courses: A Literature Mapping of U.S. efforts2021 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE49875.2021.9637445(1-8)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2021
  • (2019)A Systematic Review of Computational Thinking Approach for Programming Education in Higher Education InstitutionsProceedings of the 19th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3364510.3364521(1-10)Online publication date: 21-Nov-2019
  • (2014)Novice Programming Environments. Scratch & App InventorProceedings of the 2014 Workshop on Interaction Design in Educational Environments10.1145/2643604.2643613(1-7)Online publication date: 9-Jun-2014
  • (2014)Weaving computing into all middle school disciplinesProceedings of the 2014 conference on Innovation & technology in computer science education10.1145/2591708.2591754(207-212)Online publication date: 21-Jun-2014
  • (2013)Studio-based learning and app inventor for android in an introductory CS course for non-majorsProceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/2445196.2445286(287-292)Online publication date: 6-Mar-2013
  • (2012)A Unified Approach to Teach Computational Thinking for First Year Non–CS Majors in an Introductory CourseIERI Procedia10.1016/j.ieri.2012.06.1232(498-503)Online publication date: 2012
  • (2011)The Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving InstitutionsACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/2037276.203728011:3(1-21)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2011
  • (2011)Initial experience with a computational thinking course for computer science studentsProceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/1953163.1953242(251-256)Online publication date: 9-Mar-2011
  • (2011)Work in progress -- Using graphical programming to contextualize a conventional programming courseProceedings of the 2011 Frontiers in Education Conference10.1109/FIE.2011.6142973(F4G-1-1-F4G-2)Online publication date: 12-Oct-2011
  • (2010)ITiCSE 2010 working group report motivating our top studentsProceedings of the 2010 ITiCSE working group reports10.1145/1971681.1971685(29-47)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2010

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