Computational thinking (CT) is perhaps the cornerstone of the modern Information Age: the capacity to frame, analyze, disaggregate, and reconfigure problems to best leverage ever-expanding computational capability. CT is distinct from the high level application of data science; it is more concrete and more encompassing than the broader “digital literacy”; and it is inherent to, but not definitive of most disciplines, including the digital humanities. Every field and K-16 subject area has…

Image credit: Gerd Altmann at Pixabay

The Computational Thinking and Learning Initiative co-sponsored a textual analysis working group during the fall 2019 semester. The members of the working group, including four undergraduate Library Buchanan Fellows, learned how to analyze textual data at different scales, looking for hidden patterns in their data and finding ways to represent query results succinctly. During the first half of the semester, the students learned the rudiments of XQuery, a query language that excels at finding…

Image credit: NASA Terrs/CERES project

We are developing tools to facilitate using the NetsBlox system to download and analyze data on climates in Earth’s past. Examples include measurements of carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature for the last 800,000 years of Earth’s history that were recorded in the massive ice cap that covers Antarctica. Students will use NetsBlox to organize and analyze this data, producing graphs that show changes over time and relationships between different properties of the climate…