Cool Cafe

Computation + Creativity: The New Literacy

Computation + Creativity: The New Literacy

 

In this cafe, Computation and Creativity, Prof. Greenberg showed the teen participants his computer program designed for creating art on the computer. He showed us some basic functions on the program and then gave a computer for every 3-4 teens and let them follow along. He would be showing something on the projector and the groups of teens would be making that same shape on their computers.

In addition to this interactive piece, he showed us some of the work that his students have done with the program. That work was truly astonishing. For example, one student was very interested in the topic of banned books so she created a program where there would be a sea of bubbles on the screen and if you clicked on the bubble it would tell you about a banned book. The bigger the bubble on the screen indicated the more states that banned.

The participants loved the interactive component of this cafe as well as the interesting and different content that the speaker had to offer. To me, the biggest thing that Prof. Greenberg got across was that science and computers can be used for many purposes, like even art and creativity.

Prof. Greenberg’s presentation got rid of the stereotype that computer science can only be used for “boring” purposes and never for anything fun. Based on the participants’ reaction to the presentation, I think that they now understand that computer science can be used for any purpose, and can even be fun!

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