This article made the claim that computational analysis is not only for the computer science minded. They described computational thinking (CT) as “solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior by drawing on the concepts fundamental to computer science.” By using this definition we can use computational thinking in virtually any field.
One of the key aspect of CT is being able to break down problems to be solvable tasks for a computer and using computers to analyze and represent data in a desired fashion. Computers are a great tool and will only continue to encompass our society. Students need to be familiar to using these skills to be able to solve tomorrow's problems when we are all looking for answers. Several case studies in the article show how CT can be used to analyze problems in the classroom. A number of 7th grade students used CT to write an algorithm to show the fastest way out of the school in the event of an emergency. Then a class of 5th grades are working on a project to include a virtual xylophone helping them understand the concept of pitch in a music class. There are a multitude of areas where this is applicable and can be beneficial to the student.
Since the essence of CT is problem solving there are possibilities galore for its application. Whether we are involved in a hard science and we are trying to calculate the speed of an electron through a field or if we are in a US history class and we are trying to track battle movements through the Civil War, there are and will always be problems to solve. This is why computational thinking is here and will continue to be a useful tool for this generation and the next.
I don't think that CT is just trying to make computational analysis available for those who are not computer science minded, it is partially about helping make everyone more computer science minded, training them to be able to approach a problem in an analytical way such that they can use computers to help solve the problem.
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