Ice Cream Issues

1. Reference: BBC. (n.d.). What is computational thinking? - introduction to computational thinking - KS3 computer science revision - BBC bitesize. BBC News. Retrieved October 1, 2021, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zp92mp3/revision/1.

2. Problem Statement: In August Arcado Elementary School began selling ice cream to students in grades Kindergarten through 5th for $1 per ice cream. Students have 5 different ice cream choices. Students are excited to buy ice cream, but the school is having a difficult time keeping each choice in stock. Ice cream sells out several times per week. The school wants to keep students and parents happy while also earning money to use for the school. Beth the office clerk who is in charge of ice cream sales is at her wit's end on how to make this work beneficially for all.

3. Reference: Snelling, J. (2018, March 27). Students use computational thinking to analyze real problems. ISTE. Retrieved October 1, 2021, from Students use computational thinking to analyze real problems | ISTE

4. Algorithm Design: Beth decides that she will order and stock only Cookies N Cream cones and the Llama Party ice cream sandwich since they are the top two daily sellers. Beth will no longer place orders for the Arctic Apple bar or the Strawberry Scooter bar. She will order and stock the Birthday Cake cup for whole-class birthday orders only. Beth also decided to give grades certain days to order ice cream. Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades will order ice cream only on Wednesdays. 4th and 5th grades will order on Thursdays only. 3rd grade and whole group birthday orders will only order on Fridays. She will not increase the freezer space. She will use one freezer to place whole class birthday orders

4.1. Rationale: The BBC article, "What is computational thinking?", describes the algorithm process as, "developing a step-by-step solution to the problem" (2021). Beth follows a step-by-step order taking all scenarios into account, compiling data, and analyzing it to make her final decision that will benefit all school members.

5. Abstraction: By limiting the ice cream choices from 5 to 3, Beth realizes that she can keep the most popular flavors in stock. By assigning grades to certain days of the week for ice cream orders Beth finds that she is able to fill orders so that students do not have to miss out. Whole-classes are excited to have Birthday Cake cups because they make sense for celebrating birthdays in their opinion. Ice cream sales have remained high even with these decisions and more students are buying ice cream on their one designated day which keeps profit as high as it was when there were all 5 ice cream options. Students, parents, the school, and especially Beth are all satisifed.

5.1. Rationale: The BBC article, "What is computational thinking?", describes the algorithm process as, "focusing on the important information only, ignoring irrelevant detail" (2021). When first creating this problem I considered the space being used in the ice cream freezer but realized that was irrelevant to the major problem and could be solved at the same time. I focused only on the most important information.

6. Decomposition: Beth needs to decompose this complex problem by breaking it into smaller parts that will be more manageable and will continue to benefit students, parents, and the school. First, Beth looks at the number of choices that students are currently given. Next, she determines which ice cream choices have the most amount of daily sales. Then she determines which ice cream choices have the least amount of daily sales. Finally, Beth also determines which days of the week that most ice cream is sold.

6.1. Rationale: The article, "Introduction to Computational Thinking" states that a complex problem can be broken down into parts that are smaller and more manageable (BBC, 2021). Beth has broken an overwhelming problem into pieces that she can look at one by one to determine the best course of action.

7. Pattern Recognition: As Beth reviews the ice cream orders placed by class each day for the past month, she begins to notice patterns. Beth notices that the Cookies N Cream cone and the Llama Party Ice Cream sandwich are consistently the top two daily sellers. She also notices that Arctic Apple is the least daily seller with Strawberry Scooter bar coming in second as the least daily seller. She notices that Birthday Cake cup falls in the middle and is mostly ordered for whole-class birthday treats. Another pattern that Beth notices is that most students buy ice cream on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. She also notices that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades buy the most icecream, while 4th and 5th grade buy the least amount of ice cream. Kindergarten makes the most whole class purchases for birthdays as students are not able to bring in treats for classes due to COVID protocols.

7.1. Rationale: In the article, "Students use computational thinking to analyze real problems", the students gathered and used data to analyze the real-world problems that they were trying to solve including restroom use times to determine how students would feel about non-gendered bathrooms. One student shared that, "she didn't mind the extra work involved in collecting her own data"(Snelling, 2018). Beth collects and uses her own data for ice cream sales to help make her decisions.