{"id":4211,"date":"2015-12-16T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T20:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/msr_er\/?p=4211"},"modified":"2016-08-17T16:39:48","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T23:39:48","slug":"jeannette-wing-promotes-computational-thinking-at-world-computer-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/blog\/jeannette-wing-promotes-computational-thinking-at-world-computer-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeannette Wing promotes computational thinking at World Computer Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Miran Lee, Principal Research Program Manager, Microsoft Research Asia<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s incontrovertible that technology is changing the face of education. Today, students throughout the world conduct research online and complete their school assignments digitally. Many students have access to laptops or tablets provided by their school. But to truly realize the full educational power of the computer age, we need to move beyond mere IT technology. Students will benefit most when they learn to use computational thinking (CT), applying the principles and best practices of computing to solve all sorts of problems.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the message that Jeannette Wing (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, corporate vice president at Microsoft Research and renowned educator, brought to the 2015 World Computer Congress (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (WCC) in Daejeon, South Korea. A pioneer in and tireless advocate of computational thinking, Wing maintains that CT is for everyone, not just computer scientists\u2014which is why she and Microsoft are promoting the adoption of computational thinking in K-12 education as well as in higher education.<\/p>\n

\u201cCT is a concept universally applicable in designing ways to approach problems,\u201d said Wing. \u201cCT is a fundamental, basic ability that all people will be using, just like everyone learns to read, write, and multiply.\u201d<\/p>\n

At WCC, Wing met with influential academics and gave the keynote at the conference\u2019s Computational Thinking Forum, which brought together all of Korea\u2019s education stakeholders, including policymakers, academics, and K-12 teachers, along with educators from around the world, all eager to learn how to apply computational thinking to their courses.<\/p>\n

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Jeannette Wing, Microsoft corporate vice president; Miran Lee, Microsoft Research principal research program manager; and\u00a0 Jungyun Seo, president of the\u00a0Korean Information Science Education Federation\u00a0and the Korea Association of Information Education of Elementary School Teachers, and professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Sogang University<\/em><\/p>\n

Wing discussed how CT involves solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior by drawing on the concepts that are fundamental to computer science. “Thinking like a computer scientist means more than being able to program a computer,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt requires the ability to abstract and thus to think at multiple levels of abstraction.”<\/p>\n

She then provided direct examples of how computational thinking is a universally applicable skill, appropriate for problem-solving in any area. The forum highlighted several current projects that utilize CT, most notably Yonsei University\u2019s curriculum for higher education, which teaches CT skills to all freshman students.<\/p>\n

Wing completed her trip by meeting with stakeholders, university leaders, and a wide base of supporters who applaud her efforts to transform education through computational thinking. Events like this reinforce Microsoft Research\u2019s central goal of using computer science to solve some of society\u2019s biggest problems. With skills like computation thinking, students won\u2019t just be given access to new technology, they\u2019ll learn how to use it to transform their learning, their schools, and the world around them.<\/p>\n

Learn more<\/strong><\/p>\n