Course Design Document IS103 Computational Thinking (CT)

Version 2.2 17 August 2013

Computational thinking confronts the riddle of machine intelligence: What can humans do better than computers? What can computers do better than humans? Most fundamentally it addresses the question: What is computable?" Prof. Jeannette Wing, Carnegie Mellon University

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Table of Content 1.! Versions History 2.! Overview Synopsis ................................................................................................................................................ 6! Prerequisites ......................................................................................................................................... 6! Objectives ............................................................................................................................................. 6! Basic Modules ...................................................................................................................................... 6! Instructional Staff ................................................................................................................................. 6! 3.! Output and Assessment Summary (1) Class Participation (10%) ............................................................................................................... 7! (2) 4 In-class Quizzes (best three out of four: total of 25%) ................................................................ 7! (3) 3 Project Phases (total of 30%) ....................................................................................................... 7! (4) 1 Final Exam (35%) ........................................................................................................................ 7! 4.! Group Allocation for Projects 5.! Classroom Planning 5.1 Course Schedule Summary ............................................................................................................. 7! 5.2 Weekly Plan (see Section 6 on acronyms) ..................................................................................... 8! 6.! Resources 7.! Tooling 8.! Learning Outcomes

5! 6!

7!

7! 7! 8! 9! 9!

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1.

Versions History
Version 1.0 2.0 2.1 2.2 Change Description Initial release for use in 2011 Term 2 Revision for use in 2012 Term 1 Revision for use in 2012 Term 2 Revision for use in 2013 Term 1 Author Lau Hoong Chuin Hady Wirawan Lauw Lau Hoong Chuin Hady Wirawan Lauw Date 10-Oct-2011 27-Jun-2012 31-Dec-2012 17-Aug-13

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2.

Overview
Synopsis Computational Thinking equips students to tackle complex computational problems; it trains students to design solutions to solve those problems using a computer program. It draws upon concepts from mathematics and computer science more precisely, discrete mathematics, data structures and algorithm design. This course will hone students analytical skills as they are challenged to think abstractly and computationally. Their minds will be open to the wonders of computing, as they go behind the scene to unravel the fundamental analytics that empower social networking sites, consulting agencies and service companies. Prerequisites NIL Objectives By taking this course, the student will: discover the science of computing (or How to think like a Computer Scientist) model problems and learn practical problem-solving techniques to tackle complex computational problems (beyond what a spreadsheet is capable of solving) apply problem-solving techniques to develop more elegant and efficient programs learn to write programs to represent and manipulate with complex data objects understand the challenge of scale, not only in dealing with large data sets, but also in appreciating the nature of computing and computability Basic Modules Introduction to Algorithm Design and Analysis Abstract Data Structures Selected Topics in Computational Thinking 3 weeks 4 weeks 3 weeks

Instructional Staff Instructors: o Hady Wirawan LAUW (hadywlauw@smu.edu.sg) o MOK Heng Ngee (hnmok@smu.edu.sg) TAs: o HOANG Tuan Anh tahoang.2011@phdis.smu.edu.sg,
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o G1: LAI Xin Chu xinchu.lai.2010@sis.smu.edu.sg o G2: SEAH Siu Ngee snseah.2011@sis.smu.edu.sg o G3: CHAN Weitian wt.chan.2011@sis.smu.edu.sg

3.

Output and Assessment Summary

(1) Class Participation (10%) (2) 4 In-class Quizzes (best three out of four: total of 25%) (3) 3 Project Phases (total of 30%) (4) 1 Final Exam (35%)

4.

Group Allocation for Projects

Project Phase Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 How groups are formed? Team No of Students in a group 2

5.

Classroom Planning
There is one 3-hour classroom session per week, divided into two sessions with a 15 minutes break in between. 5.1 Course Schedule Summary Wk Theme 1 Introduction & The Ruby Workbench Introducing Ruby and RubyLabs environment 2 The Sieve of Erastothenes An algorithm for finding prime numbers 3 A Journey of A Thousand Miles Iteration as a strategy for solving computational problems 4 Divide and Conquer Breaking large problems into smaller subproblems 5 When Words Collide Organizing data for more efficient problem solving 6 7 8 9 10 11 So the Last shall be First, and the First Last Linear data structures: stack, queue, and priority queue Good Things Come in Pairs Modeling hierarchical relationships with binary trees Recess Break Its a Small World After All Modeling networks with graphs Reasoning about a highly-connected cyber and physical world Solving problems with graphs The Traveling Salesman Heuristics for computationally demanding problem

Events

Quiz 1 Ruby Competency Quiz 2 Project Phase 1 Quiz 3 Project Phase 2 Lesson by Prof Lau Hoong Chuin
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Special Topics in Computational Thinking: regular expressions, limits of computation Now lets put everything together Study break FINAL EXAM (26 Nov 5-8pm)

Quiz 4 Project Phase 3 Final Exam

5.2 Weekly Plan (see Section 6 on acronyms) Wk Topic Text Reference 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Intro to Computational Thinking, RubyLabs Workbench Algorithmic Thinking, Counting Iterative Algorithms (Linear Search, Insertion Sort), Computational Complexity Decomposition and Recursion (Binary Search, Merge Sort, QuickSort) Index-based Data Structures (Hash Table) Linear Data Structures (Stack, Queue, Priority Queue) Binary Tree and Binary Search Tree Huffman Encoding and Huffman Tree Recess Break Graphs Graph algorithms (topological sorting, shortest path) Heuristics (greedy algorithm, local search) Special topics (regular expressions, limits of computation) Review Study break FINAL EXAM (26 Nov 5-8pm)

Advanced Reading (Optional) JSC, Chp 1 & PC, Chp 4 2 JSC, Chp 3 SDB, Chp 1.1KHR, Chp 6 1.2 JSC, Chp 4 PC, Chp 10 JSC, Chp 5 SDB, Chp 3 PC, Chp 6 JSC, Chp 6 PC, Chp 5 & 13.2 Handout Chp 1 PC, Chp 7, 8, 12.2 Handout Chp 2 PC, Chp 11 JSC, Chp 7 Handout Chp 3 PC, Chp 14 JSC, Chp12 JSC, Chp 10

6.

Resources
Primary Texts: [JSC] Conery, John S., Explorations in Computing: An Introduction to Computer Science, CRC Press, 2011. Supplementary Handouts: [KHR] Rosen, Kenneth H., Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications, 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2012. Chapter 6 Counting. [Handout] Supplementary Handout on Fundamental Data Structures provided by instructors, 2012. Released over eLearn. Additional texts for further reading on more advanced materials (optional):

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Available in SMU Library Course Reserves [PC] Prichard and Carrano, Data Abstraction and Problem Solving with Java: Walls and Mirrors, 3/E, 2011

Interesting web links: Centre for Computational Thinking http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~CompThink/ CT course http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/15-122/index1.html Dartmouth College CT course: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~cs3/index.html Google on CT http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/ Computer Science for Fun - http://www.cs4fn.org/fundamentals/index.php

7.

Tooling
The course is mostly conceptual so that it can be available to students without programming background. However, students will be exposed to tools (such as Ruby programming language, and RubyLabs environment for computational experiments). There will be in class demos and hands-on sessions of these tools.

8.

Learning Outcomes
IS103 Computational Thinking
Course-specific core competencies which address the Outcomes Faculty Methods to Assess Outcomes

Integration of business & technology in a sector context 1.1 Business IT value linkage skills 1.2 Cost and benefits analysis skills 1.3 Business software solution impact analysis skills

IT architecture, design and development skills 2.1 System requirements specification skills YY Translate problems into computational problems formally Identify and design appropriate representation and solution to solve computational problems Explain issue with scale and computational efficiency, space-time tradeoff Translate representation and solution design into Ruby code (by tweaking existing code) Acquire the following skills: recursive thinking abstraction and decomposition heuristic reasoning design with simplicity and elegance Grade Assignments, Final Exam and Class Participation

2.2 Software and IT architecture analysis and design skills

YY

2.3 Implementation skills

2.4 Technology application skills

YY

Project management skills 3.1 Scope management skills 3.2 Risks management skills 3.3 Project integration and time management skills 3.4 Configuration management skills 3.5 Quality management skills

Learning to learn skills

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Y 4.1 Search skills

Independently investigate other problem-solving techniques not taught/discussed in class (through supplementary readings) Self-learn the use of software tools (Ruby, RubyLabs) and use them for in class exercises and assignment

Grade Class participation and Team Assignment

4.2 Skills for developing a methodology for learning 5 Collaboration (or team) skills: 5.1 Skills to improve the effectiveness of group processes and work products 6 Change management skills for enterprise systems 6.1 Skills to diagnose business changes 6.2 Skills to implement and sustain business changes Skills for working across countries, cultures and borders 7.1 Cross-national awareness skills 7.2 Business across countries facilitation skills 8 Communication skills Prepare and deliver effective technical presentations, particularly on problem definition and solution design in formal yet intuitive fashion, explain algorithm design concisely and convincingly Express problem definition, data structures, algorithm design formally Grade and give feedback to participation in in-class exercises

8.1 Presentation skills

8.2 Writing skills Y YY This sub-skill is covered partially by the course This sub-skill is a main focus for this course

YY

Grade Assignments

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