COMPUTATIONAL THINKING AND THE HUMANITIES: INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND THEATRE DESIGN

The ongoing emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education and increasing the number of college graduates in science/technology disciplines will often prompt discussions labeling careers in STEM and the humanities as mutually exclusive endeavors. In truth, the science of computing pervades nearly every work experience, from managing data about the patrons of local museums to simulation software for motion picture and stage productions.Initiatives to promote computation as a basic skillset alongside reading, writing, and mathematics are widespread, and associated requirements for software programming are reaching further into the early grades. Effective instruction in this discipline goes well beyond writing simple scripts or an extensive exposure to block-based coding environments. Frameworks of computational thinking as it relates to other modes of conceptualization (gestalts) are necessary to build pedagogical practices that engage students throughout their academic journey.Building from the author’s prior work on thinking frameworks instructors should consider when teaching primarily computer science topics, this project investigates and expands this model to include the delivery of computational concepts in tandem with humanities courses, specifically the performing arts. As part of this effort, the authors report on their empirical and anecdotal experiences teaching an interdisciplinary class that explores the intersections of theatre and digital technology: Creative Computing and Theater Design: Performance in a Digital World.The traditional Computer Science (CS) curriculum emphasizes the abstraction of problems into data models, system representations, and most often software programs that can be resolved on a computing platform. The author’s previous research posited a MAC (Mathematical + Abstract + Computational) thinking framework overlaying three fundamental problem-solving worlds: Real World, Abstract World, and Computer World. Terminology gathered from a broad sample of textbooks and articles on computational math and solution strategies helps to define the different thinking frameworks used in CS to conceptualize and address problems. For example, mathematical thinking articles frequently use word-groups such as “algorithm/method” and “system/subsystem.” One of the main objectives from this work was to capture the essence of CS that is not directly tied to writing computer programs, including the critical design effort involved in understanding real world problem.There is much evidence that CS students benefit from learning arts. Participating in an acting improvisation class can increase confidence and communication. Crossover skills such as imagination, communication, listening, problem solving, and critical thinking are all learned while training in the arts. This presentation will investigate the influence and addition of an Arts Thinking framework on the computational and reasoning strategies of CS students immersed in the problem-solving approaches and thinking patterns of peers from a different field. The interdisciplinary class provides an environment that will help extend this research of mental frameworks into the realm of performing arts. Activities and assignments utilized in this course will help elicit and clarify the different strategies students employ when addressing design challenges and supply the terminology and context of the proposed Arts Thinking framework.