The Power Of Computational Thinking

powerofCT.coverThe Power of Computational Thinking: Games, Magic and Puzzles to Help You Become a Computational Thinker, Paul Curzon and Peter W. McOwan.

“A wonderful book full of ideas … to inspire and engage”

“This book is the best starting point I’ve come across.”

“What a fabulous book! I’m training to teach computer science, and have been following the authors’ articles on cs4fn.org for the last year. In terms of education, they’re ahead of their time. At the moment, I don’t think enough schools appreciate the importance of computational thinking across the curriculum, but in time they will. The schools that are switched on to it now will be leading the field in the coming years, and this book is the best starting point I’ve come across.”

Buy it from Amazon (in English)

ChinesePowerofCTcoverAlso now translated to Chinese in Taiwan … and German from Springer and Russian.

Written by the cs4fn / Teaching London Computing team, this is a fun introduction to what computational thinking is all about.

We describe the elements of computational thinking – such as algorithmic thinking, decomposition, abstraction and pattern matching – in an entertaining and accessible way, using magic tricks, games and puzzles, as well as through real and challenging problems that computer scientists work on.

The book will give you a head start in learning the skills needed for coding, and will improve your real life problem solving skills. It will help you design and evaluate new technologies, as well as understand both your own brain and the digital world in a deeper way.

Contents:

  • Future Thinking
  • Searching to Speak
  • Magic and Algorithms
  • Puzzles, Logic and Patterns
  • Puzzling Tours
  • Bot Building for Human Beginners
  • Build a Brain
  • Building a Scam Bot
  • Grids, Graphics and Games
  • Seeing the Wood and the Trees
  • Medical Marvels Inside Out
  • Computers vs Your Brain
  • So What is Computational Thinking?

Reviews

“What a fabulous book! I’m training to teach computer science, and have been following the authors’ articles on cs4fn.org for the last year. In terms of education, they’re ahead of their time. At the moment, I don’t think enough schools appreciate the importance of computational thinking across the curriculum, but in time they will. The schools that are switched on to it now will be leading the field in the coming years, and this book is the best starting point I’ve come across“. – Gary Lintern

“A huge need and an outstanding author team with a glowing track record in this precise area. What more do you want?” –Simon Peyton Jones (FRS), Microsoft Research, Cambridge UK

“A wonderful book full of ideas with which to inspire and engage in computational thinking. Core concepts and principles are brought to life in fun and engaging ways through puzzles, magic tricks and games. This is a must-have book for Computing teachers.” –Dr Kevin R Bond, Managing Director, Educational Computing Services Ltd

“The book should be on the reading lists of teachers of computing. It gives an insight into our curriculum mantra, “to use computational thinking … to understand and change the world.” –John Woollard, CAS Tenderfoot coordinator, CAS Assessment WG chair, BCS Certificate assessor

Buy it from Amazon (In English)