From Computational Thinking to Systems Thinking:

A conceptual toolkit for sustainability computing

A. Summarizing
1. Overall Aim
Implementing systems thinking into the undergraduate
curriculum for computer and information sciences in
order to create sustainability in terms of social and
environmental.
2. Key Definition
Technological solutionism: treats complex societal
problem in a simplistic way such as new app, new web
service, and new device regardless of environmental
problem.
Sustainability: system-level properties such as feedback
loops and rates of flow.
Computational thinking:
Methods for matching problem situations to
standard types of solution.
Focus on the application of many levels of
abstractions, use of mathematics to develop
algorithms, and examining how well a solution
scales across different sizes of problems.
Reductionism: avoid complexity.
Technological solutionism: treats complex societal
problems in a simplistic way without exploring the
broader environmental consequences.
3. Key Motivation
Changing computational thinking to systems thinking in
order to create sustainability for undergraduate
curriculum is not that easy as we used to being taught,
especially in computer and information services major
that solving problem, for example societal problem
always using computer, algorithm, and etc. resulting in
many kinds of technologies created that tends to
undermine sustainability which impacts to environment
as well as societal.
That is why, systems thinking is needed to provide a
bridge from computational thinking to sustainability
practice. Sustainability demands a more systematic
approach to avoid technological solutionism, and to
acknowledge that technology, human behavior and
environmental impacts are tightly inter-related.
Systems thinking provides useful antidote to the
reductionism of computational thinking, and identified 3
specific contributions systems thinking can make to

expanding the conceptual toolkit of computational

thinkers, namely:
Domain ontology for reasoning about sustainability
Set of theories of how transformational social
changes occurs
Set of practices for critical thinking about the
social and environmental impacts of technology
The solution:
Exploring the introduction of systems thinking which
provides critical thinking into computer science courses,
via a collection of inter-disciplinary games that offer
hands-on experience of the non-linear dynamics of
complex system.
B. Reflecting
1. What I have learnt:
Environment as one of the biggest parts of human life, is being
threatened by the way people interact with it. The development
of technology tends to make people overcome problem with the
use of technology or we can call it Computational Thinking as
this is simple and without the need of much effort in order to
achieve the efficient result. However, this impacts on societal
and environmental aspects of human life in which the more
new technology created, such as web, device, app, and etc.,
the more disposals, e-waste, and etc. produced. In terms of
social aspect, computational thinkers tend to have a lack of
awareness of the broader aspect of their life. The aspect that
doesnt come only specific, but has bigger broader. That is why,
systems thinking is needed to add more complexity in
computational thinking in order to develop sustainability in
human life. Complexity in the system thinking triggers people
to think critically and has holistic view. Therefore, adding
system thinking in the college curriculum would produce a
sustainability graduate thinker in the future.
I learnt that we are, as the part of computational thinkers
should learn from this point that we cannot forget the outer
boundaries of our life just to make everything become
automatic
and
simple
regardless
the
societal
and
environmental issues in our life.
2. Best Quote:
If all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a
nail.
This quote has explicit meanings that do not just see everything
only on one side, but you have to see another sides or all sides
because you have never known on the other sides that perhaps
have an impact of what you are doing or what have you done. In

other words, you should aware of everything around you

whether it is people, environment, things, and etc.
System thinkingshould have variety of skills, member