Computational Thinking and Life Science

Life science and computer science share the educational goals of fostering students to engage in inquiry-based learning and solve problems through similar practices of discovery, design, and experimentation. This chapter outlines the pedagogical links among traditional life science and emerging computer science domains in early childhood education, and describes an educational intervention using the CRISPEE technological prototype. CRISPEE, designed by a research team of developmentalists, biologists, educators, and computer scientists, invites young children to use computational logic to model design processes with biological materials. Findings are discussed as they relate to new understandings about how young children leverage computational thinking when engaged in design-based life science, or biodesign.