From Computational Thinking to Systems Thinking: A conceptual toolkit for sustainability computing

DOI

10.2991/ict4s-14.2014.28How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Computers and Society, Computer Science Education, Computational Sustainability.

Abstract

If information and communication technologies (ICT) are to bring about a transformational change to a sustainable society, then we need to transform our thinking. Computer professionals already have a conceptual toolkit for problem solving, sometimes known as computational thinking. However, computational thinking tends to see the world in terms a series of problems (or problem types) that have computational solutions (or solution types). Sustainability, on the other hand, demands a more systemic approach, to avoid technological solutionism, and to acknowledge that technology, human behaviour and environmental impacts are tightly inter-related. In this paper, I argue that systems thinking provides the necessary bridge from computational thinking to sustainability practice, as it provides a domain ontology for reasoning about sustainability, a conceptual basis for reasoning about transformational change, and a set of methods for critical thinking about the social and environmental impacts of technology. I end the paper with a set of suggestions for how to build these ideas into the undergraduate curriculum for computer and information sciences.

Copyright

© 2014, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Steve Easterbrook
PY  - 2014/08
DA  - 2014/08
TI  - From Computational Thinking to Systems Thinking: A conceptual toolkit for sustainability computing
BT  - Proceedings of the 2014 conference ICT for Sustainability
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 235
EP  - 244
SN  - 2352-538X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/ict4s-14.2014.28
DO  - 10.2991/ict4s-14.2014.28
ID  - Easterbrook2014/08
ER  -