Computational thinking in mathematics (CTM) -  2021 Virtual Conference with Simon Peyton Jones
Channel: AssocTeachersMaths
Date: 27/07/2021

Simon Peyton Jones launched ATM’s computational thinking in mathematics (CTM) conversation at the 2021 Virtual Conference with his talk Computing and Mathematics: 1 + 1 = 3? In 2014 the new national curriculum re-launched the ICT curriculum as “Computing”. For the first time anywhere in the world, the new programme of study establishes computer science as a subject discipline that all children should learn, alongside maths and natural science, from primary school onwards.
But computer science is mathematics reincarnated (made flesh) in tangible form. The pioneers of computer science, from Babbage to Turing, were prominent mathematicians. Computer scientists, just like mathematicians, abstract the key properties of a authentic problem (the velocity of the ball, the force of gravity), compute or reason about this abstract model, and then re-interpret the results into the real world. And so on. 

So, instead of having “mathematics lessons” and “computer science lessons” that are distinctly different, what if we had “computational lessons” – pick your own title – instead? Perhaps we could illuminate, motivate, and embody mathematical concepts in the form of executable programs? In this talk, and subsequent breakout and panel sessions, we will leave these differences behind, and explore (with your help) how we could make a new discipline more than the sum of its parts. 

Accompanying support material is available on the ATM website https://www.atm.org.uk/Computational-thinking-in-mathematics-