Recently, I was forwarded an email from one of our CSTA members asking for some help finding curriculum resources for teaching computer science in the classroom. It was refreshing and satisfying to be able to answer this teacher’s email. Hopefully there will be some information in that email that will be of use to this teacher.
As the chairperson for the membership committee, I wish I received more emails of this type. What is it that our members want from CSTA? What curriculum resources are there that you need help identifying? I understand that we all would like more money for our programs, but there are great free resources that many of us use and are able to pass on to others.
Every two years, CSTA conducts a survey of its members to determine the importance of our current benefits, but sometimes just a person asking for help can be a better way of determining needs than a survey.
I encourage our members to use this blog as a way to ask for help.
What kind of resources are you looking for?
How can CSTA help you out?
Let us know!
Dave Burkhart
CSTA Membership Chairperson
Hi,
Enrollment is at an all-time low and I need a marketing hook. Currently, it is robotics but even this is falling out of favour with my students.
Has anyone studied 3-D gaming environments and their applicability in the classroom? I’ve looked at Game Maker (too simple, little resources), Microsoft’s XNA (too hardware intensive, little resources) and Alice (too buggy)…
I need something that looks like what they are used to at home on their XBox yet is as simple as Game Maker yet doesn’t cost $3000 per seat licence.
Thanks,
TB
Your curriculum resources have been great. Between those and some others I’ve gathered from people I know, I’ve been able to build a syllabus for next year’s Intro to CS course. The biggest issue I have right now is training. I, like many other CS teachers I’ve met, do not have a degree in CS. I’m self taught. The teaching part I have plenty of experience in. The CS part I have less experience in. And I don’t have the time or money to invest in a CS degree right now–or even a single course. While there are some free online courses out there, I don’t really need the intro to cs course in full. What I need are short courses in the kinds of things I might teach, especially beyond the intro course. What’s the best way to teach game programming, for example, and what kinds of environments work best? What lessons do people use for that?
I think one of the biggest challenges for CS teachers is that there are so many different ways to teach it. It’s not like math or biology, where there’s a pretty accepted set of principle to be taught. Even if we agreed on a set of CS principles (which I think we’re close to), we then have the problem of how to teach them. Do we use a particular language–if so, which one? Do we skip programming? Where do things like hardware fit in? What about such basic concepts as the differences between operating systems? It’s easy to get lost in all the different options.
I would second Tom’s suggestion about marketing. I have only 4 kids in robotics and I’m not sure they’d do it again given the choice. I teach at an all girls’ school, so I’m thinking about offering e-textiles with micro-controllers next year. Everything costs so much, though. It’s frustrating.