SuppliedComputer science is the engine of change. From medicine to social networking, transportation to entertainment, computer science is present in almost all industries in our changing world. Whatever area of the economy you examine, there is a demand for computer science professionals who can solve problems both individually and as part of a team. However, as soon as some hear the term “computer science,” their eyes glaze over.
What is computer science? It is about how humans create solutions with powerful information processing tools. Humans create tools, hardware and software, and apply these tools to solve problems like building email systems, creating search engines, computing genetic sequences, and developing automated control systems for exploring our universe.
More importantly, before computers can implement these created solutions quickly, a human needs to learn how to solve these demanding problems. Computer science is increasingly being recommended as an essential component of the educational experience for K-12 students. In North America, recent government announcements promoting computer science education are worth paying attention to. In President Obama’s most recent State of the Union Address, he expressed the need to “(offer) every student the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one” and he has called for the allocation of $4 billion to this initiative. In 2014, California passed a number of bills to create a K-12 computer science program, Chicago made computer science a core subject in all public high schools, and New York City announced a plan to integrate computer science into K-12 for all 600,000 of its students and committed $81 million for this project.
However, we need not look to our southern neighbours to see the attention computer science is receiving. Last week B.C. Premier Christy Clark stated “Every kindergarten to grade 12 student will have … the opportunity to learn the basics of coding.” Clark’s announcement was motivated by a strategy to diversify B.C.’s economy away from natural resources. B.C. now has more people employed in the technology sector than in the resource sector.
Alberta is an innovative leader in resource development and agriculture with a strong history of entrepreneurship and community improvement. We have built an excellent education system that has been used as a template across the world. There are many dedicated parents and teachers who are working hard to ensure our children receive the education they need to meet the challenges of the future. For Alberta to continue to be competitive on a global scale, we need to invest in our future now so our children can learn to use computer science to be creators, builders, and technological entrepreneurs of the future.
Even if students’ final aspirations are not to be working in computer science, the knowledge and skills they acquire from its study can help them in any field for, as former US Secretary of Education Richard Riley puts it, “jobs that don’t yet exist … (where they’ll use) technologies that haven’t yet been invented … in order to solve problems that we don’t even know are problems yet.” Computer Science is a discipline that is truly interdisciplinary in scope.
Although oil will most likely recover to a reasonable price, Albertans should resist falling back into a false sense of economic security. Future generations of Albertans will be expected to have a much deeper level of computational and digital literacy. Now is the time for Alberta to invest in K-12 computer science education — an investment that is critical to building the educational foundation that is necessary to fuel Alberta’s economic diversity and position the province to be globally competitive in a technological world.
I hope you do some research next time you write an article, you were referring to computing science through your entire article, not computer science. This is a Very basic concept they teach you in every 100 level CompSci course.
When you get your B. Sc. from the UofA, your degree reads, “Bachelor of Science with Specialization in Computing Science” -not “Computer Science”.
So, yeah, not sure where you’re coming from on that one.
Our degree at the U of A is called Computing Science, but the field as a whole is more commonly referred to Computer Science. The article refers to the field, not the specific degree at the U of A.
I supposed that depends on what you read. I’d prefer to refer to something by its formal name versus a common name. However, this boils down to personal preference and possibly context so we could be here all day arguing over something stupid.
In any event, my comment was specifically directed at Robert’s comment and not so much at the actual article. Robert was saying (almost belittling) the writer’s reference to “CompSci” as “computing science” as being incorrect when it actually isn’t.
Hi Robert,
Thank you for your comment. Depending on which multidisciplinary field you examine computing science from, they will sometimes use the terms interchangeably. In Alberta and in the field of education for instance, the label is “computer science.” If you would like to see my research, please feel free to examine the Program of Studies (the official learning outcomes educators must address in grade 10-12 classrooms in Alberta). Ignoring the label that we attach to the concepts, I think we can both agree that the concepts underlying computing science could benefit the workforce of tomorrow in Alberta.
https://archive.education.alberta.ca/media/2160632/cse.pdf