Data is Power: Dr. Ethel Tshukudu on Programming for Environmental Advocacy
- Ray Choudhury
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Introducing Dr. Ethel Tshukudu
Dr. Ethel Tshukudu is a computer science researcher and scholar from Botswana, currently residing in the Bay Area as a Professor of Computer Science and Science Education at San José State University. She is the founder of Computer Science Education Botswana and understands the significance of making STEM education equitable and open to all kinds of people. In light of Planet Bee’s new Coding for Conservation program, we sat down with Dr. Tshukudu to talk about digital literacy, how programming can intersect with conservation, and the impact of introducing computer science education to the next generation.
What inspired your journey from Botswana to the Bay Area and into computer science education?
I started exploring through my PhD the complications of learning programming and ways of mitigating those challenges. When I was learning computer science in my undergrad, a lot of our classmates, including myself, were feeling it was not taught in our context, so it was stressful. When learning programming, there's a lot of abstractions involved in learning code, the language, the syntax, the semantics, and problem-solving.
When I was in my PhD, I realized that… oh, actually, there could be better ways to teach programming. So I went back to Botswana and started Computer Science Education Botswana to say, let everyone learn computing as young as possible, so that they don't get to experience what I experienced. But more than that, they can solve problems for Botswana.
I then started doing more research, and I realized that to do research, you need support. That's why I moved here to the Bay Area, to expand my ideas of research and to learn more in a different context– the American context, which has always been the leader in how computer science education is taught, and implementing those changes into real-life situations.
What excites you most about using computer science to support conservation and environmental action?
Computer science has become the center of everyone's life. From the moment you wake up, you touch your phone. You go to bed again, and the phone is the last thing you touch. Within that phone, there are a lot of applications that you interact with, and all of these applications are built by computer scientists.
That has become the center of humanity right now. Sometimes we even worry that it causes us anxiety, because we have information overload. So, we can see the power of computer science to impact humanity.
Right now, we worry, is it impacting humanity in a positive way or a negative way? It's both, right? If you’re using computing to talk about conservation, you are going to be joining the positive side. Using technology intentionally for environmental protection and conservation. So I think it has the power to redirect the influence of technology.
For collective action for the planet, a lot of people lack awareness of technology itself and the harm that is happening to the environment. You get an apple from the grocery shop, but behind the scenes of how that apple comes to be, we don't care much. So, how do you
bring awareness using computer science? I think that's actually the most important part.
Why is the Coding for Conservation program beneficial for the next generation of CS professionals?
I've learned that the earlier people are taught about coding and computer science, the better. A lot of people do not feel that they should learn coding– it's not interesting to a majority of people, and the people who are interested in learning coding are the people who want to earn a lot of money. So the motivation is a little bit… concerning. If you teach it to the younger generation at a younger age, you are actually opening doors that otherwise would have been closed for them.
The power of creating applications, of combining code to solve a problem. You are opening those doors at a young age, and my hope would be that those are the younger people who will eventually get into computing when they are older and be allowed to sit at the table. Who sits at the table to decide to create Facebook, or to create ChatGPT, to create all these powerful tools that end up being used by billions and billions of people?
You have someone who, at their heart, understands science, conservation, and environmental impact, and they are motivated through that. They will be at the table with other software engineers to make ethical decisions.
Right now, the interest is in building social media, and the aim is to increase engagement. By clicking more pictures, clicking more videos, so that you don't leave. You just keep scrolling and scrolling. What if you were to turn that into something that is intentional and brings awareness to environmental protection and conservation?
When you engage students in coding, they will see that they can actually become part of the people in the computer science world. They will have less fear of getting into computer science. They will see how coding matters to impact the environment, and they can use it as a tool for responsibility.
How do you hope that students will benefit from learning to turn environmental data into digital advocacy?
Data itself is a tool, and it's powerful. I like saying to my students, you are going to find yourself dealing with a lot of detail in how you are manipulating that data. Storing that data in a database, extracting it, and seeing patterns around it gives you insights into the trends. It can become hard to put all that data together to make an informed decision. That's where technology comes into play.
If you are going to teach students that computer science is about data and the manipulation of that data to help solve problems in the world, then they can start looking at that powerful part.
If I'm going to be collecting data, perhaps about the population of bees, I can actually get some powerful insights into that data and make it into my digital advocacy.
Because now it's digital, you can find ways to present it in dashboards, websites, or any other tool. It brings the visual elements, which reduces the cognitive load of learning complicated concepts. They can use that easy tool for advocacy.
What messages would you like to share with young people who want to use technology to help protect the planet?
One thing I can say to them is that they shouldn't fear. This fear of, I don't want to code. I would say, challenge yourself to learn how to code. We are not saying become a software engineer eventually, but learn how to code because, as I said, you wake up to a phone, you go to sleep holding a phone. You need to understand how the tech is built, right?
You need to not fear learning coding so that you can make informed decisions about the core things in life that are grabbing everyone's attention, including yourself.
The thing that you may be fearing to enter can be the thing that can change the world, and technology has changed the world.
Any final thoughts?
I love conservation. The program of coding, putting it into science, learning about the environment, conservation, all that. I think it's a good thing.
At the university level, we think a lot about incorporating computer science into all fields, because it has become a core field. Whether you do humanities, nursing, medicine, or law, we all need to learn about technology and how it's been developed. It's a really good initiative to start engaging people at a very young age; it's happening right now with Planet Bee. I commend that.
Coding for Conservation
We thank Dr. Tshukudu for her support on Coding for Conservation, and are excited to see how this program can sow the seeds for our future computer scientists and environmental advocates. Learn more by clicking the buttons below.
