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From the issue dated May 5, 2000

LOGGING IN WITH ... LAWRENCE
SNYDER

Computer Scientist Says All Students Should Learn to Think
'Algorithmically'

By FLORENCE OLSEN

"Every day I think, Well, does my mom need to
know this stuff?" In this case, the "stuff" is information
technology, and, on many days, Lawrence
Snyder's answer to that
question is yes.

A professor of computer science at the University of Washington,
Mr. Snyder was chairman of the committee that produced "Being Fluent
With Information Technology," a report published in June 1999 by the
National Research Council. It says college students need more than computer
literacy to succeed in their educational, professional, social, and
personal lives. Teaching fluency, it says -- a deeper understanding of
information technology -- should be the goal of all colleges as they
prepare students for graduation.

Mr. Snyder says he tries to practice what the report preaches. His CSE 100
is a semester-length course that creates opportunities for students to
learn to use information technology as a language they speak fluently.

Q. If fluency in information technology is not computer literacy, what
is it?

A. Think of fluency as having three kinds of knowledge -- skills, concepts,
and logical reasoning. Skills are knowing how to
use e-mail, browse the Web, and so forth. The basic concepts that students
need to know for fluency are such things as how does a computer work, what
is a network, how do we represent information digitally, algorithmic
thinking, things like that. The intellectual capabilities needed for
fluency include logical reasoning, the ability to manage complexity, to
troubleshoot and debug information systems.

The report proposed teaching fluency in the context of projects that
require students to use those three kinds of knowledge. So let me give you
an example: formulating an H.I.V.-tracking system for a hospital or
doctor's office. It's a great project. It is a database project, because
you need to record clients coming into the clinic, to keep track of the
specimens they give, and where the specimens are sent out for testing. A
project gives you a chance to learn and practice three or four skills,
three or four concepts, and three or four capabilities.

Q. What is algorithmic thinking, and why is that important for English
and history majors?

A. For those of us who teach it, this is the 500-pound gorilla. It's the
kind of thinking we refer to many times when we talk about problem-solving
in mathematics and science. It is thinking in a procedural way to solve a
problem by following a step-by-step process. You should begin with this,
then do that, and so forth.

Q. Isn't that an updated version of logical thinking?

A. Yes. In fact, the reason it shows up in computer science all the time,
though it's not restricted to computer science, is that you have to direct
a computer scrupulously -- do this, do this, do this. Everything we do in
computer science is algorithmic, because we're trying to get the computer
to do our bidding.

Q. I suppose it's because you can make assumptions when you're talking
to people, but not when you're talking to a computer.

A. That's right. A human listener might save your bacon when you've left
something out. When you're using algorithmic thinking, you're attentive to
being specific. So, to get back to the question, what about English majors?
If they're going to develop a system that analyzes texts to determine which
ones did Chaucer write and which one's are
somebody else's, the process for doing that analysis is algorithmic.

Q. In addition to having students learn what it means to think algorithmically,
why did the committee conclude that basic programming experience is
important for all college graduates?

A. It's hard to understand the concept of algorithmic thinking until you've
actually sat down and tried doing it. The actual process of algorithmic
thinking and of writing an algorithm is programming. So programming is
algorithmic thinking in a tangible form.

Q. Teaching fluency as you propose sounds like an expensive addition to
the college curriculum.

A. There is an expense. When I teach it, every student sits in a lab for an
hour after each lecture. That lab has to be filled with PC's
connected to the Internet, and they have to be maintained by a staff that
sees to it that they are always up and running. In addition to a lab, you
really need only a lecture room with a video display into which you can
plug laptop PC so you are able to "walk through" the software
during a lecture.

But I would say that most colleges and universities have a significant
amount of computer infrastructure already, probably enough to teach this
class -- though maybe not if you required it and every one of your students
took it.

http://chronicle.com

Section: Information Technology

Page: A49

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