With everything else they have on their plates right now, it is almost impossible for K-12 computing teachers to keep up with all of the research about computer science education that might be relevant to their classroom practices. In fact, just finding material that is relevant to K-12 is a considerable chore.
One of the major benefits of CSTA membership, however, is access to the CSTA virtual binders – a collection of top-notch, classroom relevant articles culled from ACM’s huge Digital Library.
So far, dedicated volunteers from the CSTA Board of Directors have put together three binders and the newest one, on Careers, just went live this weekend.
There are now three CSTA virtual binders, each covering a different topic: Careers, Equity, and Teaching Strategies. Each binder provides full-text access to up to 15 articles pulled from the very best professional and educational computer science journals.
CSTA members can access these binders directly from the CSTA website (csta.acm.org) by clicking on K-12 Virtual Binders in the Resources section on the left column. Once you get to the binders page, click on
Login for e-binders
and you can access the binders directly using your ACM Web Account. (CSTA members who have not done sor yet can simply follow the instructions to set up their free ACM Web Account.)
The CSTA Membership Committee, under the direction of Charmaine Bentley, has been spearheading the creation of the virtual binders, and plans are underway for at least three more themed binders to be developed over the next few months. If you have some ideas about good topics for new e-binders, please post a comment here and let us know!
Chris Stephenson
Executive Director