Open peer commentary on the article “Creativity in Solving Short Tasks for Learning Computational Thinking” by Valentina Dagienė, Gerald Futschek & Gabrielė Stupurienė. Abstract: Computational thinking (CT) skills are nowadays strongly advocated for educational institutions at all levels. CT refers broadly to skills of thinking about the world from a computational perspective, however, not necessarily referring to programming skills in particular. There is still a lack of consensus about what CT means, and how CT should be taught. This open peer commentary briefly discusses some ongoing trends of CT in response to the target article, which reports development, field testing and piloting of an extensive set of new learning materials for teaching CT. Recent calls for interdisciplinary technology education, creativity and open-ended problem solving in CT are highlighted.

Open peer commentary on the article “Foresight Rather than Hindsight? Future State Maximization As a Computational Interpretation of Heinz von Foerster’s Ethical Imperative” by Hannes Hornischer, Simon Plakolb, Georg Jäger & Manfred Füllsack. Abstract: As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to have a fundamental impact in our world and lives, a crucial need arises for integrating ethical and constructivist principles in the design of AI systems, and related computational thinking. We discuss aspects and examples of ethical and constructivist design of AI in the context of the target article, and especially in the domains of future-oriented ethical design and computing education.