Computational Thinking: Efforts in Korea

Abstract

The computer age is changing the face of education. To realize the full potential of such change, we need to move beyond a simple adoption of IT in the classroom. Students will benefit most when they learn to use computational thinking (CT) while applying the principles and best practices of computing to solve all sorts of real-world problems. This message (Wing, Communications of the ACM 49(3):33–35, 2006) was pioneered by Jeannette Wing, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft Research, which is also the main theme of the Computational Thinking Forum held in Seoul, South Korea.

There has been a big step forward through the collaborative efforts of many, including the Korean Information Science Education Federation, governors, policy makers, faculty members, teachers, and industry leaders such as Microsoft. The Korean government and its Ministry of Education (MoE) decided to include software education to be compulsory at K-12 schools by 2018, with the Korean MoE also having operated pilot programs at 72 schools nationwide in 2015.

This article reports the showcase projects for K-12 and higher education presented at the aforementioned forum.