Computing in the News
Tips and Options for Using Computing News in Class
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- Present a current news story about a computing innovation (including a video if there is one), then ask the students what they think about it, what computer science concepts are involved, and what the positive and negative implications are.
- Once you’ve modeled the process several times, you can ask students to bring stories to the group.
- Can be used as a five-minute bellringer every day, or save news for Fridays and give it more time.
- If the discussion is going well, let it continue!
- It can be easy — maybe a little too easy — to highlight the positive elements of a new innovation (especially when news stories are based on press releases!). So it’s important for students to see the negative (often unintended) implications as well — and to put some thought into how potential negative consequences could be prevented or mitigated.
Why Use News?
Highlights from the news make a great attention-grabber at the beginning of class, and provide handy concrete examples for thinking about the global impacts of computing. (In fact, there’s a move to use news in all undergrad CS classes at UC Berkeley!)
Three Ways to Find Computing News
News Stories Curated for CSP by TGI (this page)
2016-17 news highlights that demonstrate computing impacts. Each one lists relevant CSP learning objectives and essential knowledge, along with suggested discussion questions. Scroll article snippets or search by CSP framework tag.
Ongoing TGI “Computing in The News” Forum
Uncurated news spotted by our site users, and comments on our curated news articles. Peruse, or join in and share a story! (Forum RSS feed)
Current Uncurated News from Other Sources
Some of our favorite live news feeds: ACM Tech News, MIT News, Science Daily.
News Stories Curated for CSP by TGI
2016-17 Highlights
(Team TGI: Anna Clark, Tyler Daniell, Michael Morguarge, Nnamdi Onwumere, and Jonathan Corley at University of West Georgia and Julia Bernd at ICSI)
Search our 2016-17 Curated News Stories by CSP Framework Tag
Ongoing TGI “Computing in The News” Forum
Uncurated news spotted by our site users, community contributions, and comments on our curated news articles. Peruse or join in and share a story!
Current Uncurated News from Other Sources
Some of our favorite sources for computing news!
From ACM Tech News
- Python-Based Compiler Achieves Orders-of-Magnitude SpeedupsMIT NewsThe Codon compiler, available on GitHub, allows developers to create new domain-specific languages within Python while achieving the performance speeds of programming languages such as C and C++. Led by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the research team compiled about 10 commonly used genomics applications written in Python and observed speedups […]
- Can Young Robotics Fans Unite a Troubled Libya?Al JazeeraYoung robotics enthusiasts such as 18-year-old Youssef Jira hope unify a divided Libya through high-tech modernization. Jira and others participated in the Libya Regional Championship for robotics, where about 20 teams of 12- to 18-year-olds competed with wheeled robots. Such programs help "open new horizons" for young Libyans, said event coordinator Mohammed Zayed. Participants […]
- Researchers Create Office Chair with Spatial Augmented RealityUniversity of Waterloo Cheriton School of Computer Science (Canada)An office chair that supports personal spatial augmented reality (AR) has been designed by researchers from Canada’s University of Waterloo Cheriton School of Computer Science. Working out of the university's Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Laboratory, researchers incorporated capacitive sensors into the chair's armrests for touch input, while the […]
From MIT News
- Learning to grow machine-learning models March 22, 2023New LiGO technique accelerates training of large machine-learning models, reducing the monetary and environmental cost of developing AI applications.Adam Zewe | MIT News Office
- A glimpse inside Intel March 21, 2023In MIT visit, CEO Pat Gelsinger sounds a bullish note on the future of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing.Peter Dizikes | MIT News Office
- Detailed images from space offer clearer picture of drought effects on plants March 20, 2023J-WAFS researchers are using remote sensing observations to build high-resolution systems to monitor drought.Carolyn Blais | Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab
- 3D-printed revolving devices can sense how they are moving March 16, 2023A new system enables makers to incorporate sensors into gears and other rotational mechanisms with just one pass in a 3D printer.Adam Zewe | MIT News Office
From Science Daily
- 'Y-ball' compound yields quantum secrets March 21, 2023Scientists investigating a compound called 'Y-ball' -- which belongs to a mysterious class of 'strange metals' viewed as centrally important to next-generation quantum materials -- have found new ways to probe and understand its behavior.
- Batteries: Passivation layer mystery solved March 21, 2023In our daily lives, lithium-ion batteries have become indispensable. They function only because of a passivation layer that forms during their initial cycle. As researchers found out via simulations, this solid electrolyte interphase develops not directly at the electrode but aggregates in the solution. Their findings allow the optimization of the performance and lifetime of […]
- Surprise in the quantum world: Disorder leads to ferromagnetic topological insulator March 21, 2023Magnetic topological insulators are an exotic class of materials that conduct electrons without any resistance at all and so are regarded as a promising breakthrough in materials science. Researchers have achieved a significant milestone in the pursuit of energy-efficient quantum technologies by designing the ferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi6Te10 from the manganese bismuth telluride family. The […]