Bio

Ethan Bogle’s primary subject of interest is pure math (senior year, he is studying Modern Algebra and Partial Differential Equations), and he will graduate from Stanford University Online High School in 2020. Ethan founded and leads the Computational Thinking Club and will teach a Computational Thinking pilot course in 2019–2020. Ethan also founded and leads the Stanford OHS Jazz Band, an online band that rehearses real-time over the internet. The band uses open-source experimental online jamming technology to transmit audio over the internet fast enough that latency is reduced below human perception, allowing musicians in geographically distant locations to play music synchronously, as if they were in the same room. For his work with the band, he has been invited to speak at the international 2019 NowNet Arts Conference in November. Outside of academics, Ethan composes music and plays jazz piano and has performed at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival.

Computational Essay: Computational Essays

Project: Developing a Culture of Computational Thinking

Goal

The goal of this project, as the title implies, is to create a culture of computational thinking. More specifically, I am designing a set of materials (or a “course”) that can be used to create a culture of computational thinking within a school. While the students will achieve various levels of fluency, they will all become computationally literate in the Wolfram Language. The materials will help create a culture of computational thinking by catching students’ interest and then providing them with resources to pursue their interest. The examples are designed to motivate students and staff by helping them understand how computational thinking and the Wolfram Language can help them accomplish their goals.

Summary of Results

I set up Google Classroom to host the materials. In addition to creating the basic explanatory material for the course, I created 14 sessions for the first semester and have at least six more sessions planned for the second semester (including guest speakers). I also created a template to easily create sessions. I have tailored my sessions to target non-STEM students and instructors.

Future Work

My first goal is that this pilot creates enough excitement at my school, both among the students and among the instructors, that we can implement a computational thinking course or otherwise integrate computational thinking into the curriculum. My second goal is that other students are able to use this material to build excitement at their own schools and test this approach in many different environments.