While not the latest trend, I find that more of the teachers in one district I serve are using ‘smart’ phones among their educational tools for learning. One teacher in particular, has found some success reaching students in a low income area high school. She uses text polling and other methods for pre- assessment, regular assessment and summative assessment. She started using ‘smart’ phones because almost 85% of her students have phones and knowing that, she created assessments and even projects that could completed through the use of the phone. Some of her colleagues think that by using these tools, the students may not attend class regularly. For this teacher however, she has not seen such a drop off and still (and strongly) believes that whatever means she can find to get and keep students involved, especially in an area that has at least a 33% drop-out rate, is the best tool to use.
Are there others who are using such tools who may have suggestions or advice?
Gladys Phillips-Evans
CSTA Board of Directors

During the last few weeks I have been fondly reminded of the joys I experienced when teaching and working with a student organization and encountering that rare student who has a passion, as well as the initiative to see that passion come to fruition. I’m sure you know the type of student who can teach us teachers so much if we just have the good grace to allow them to take the ball and run with it. That is if the teacher can really be the guide on the side and not the sage on the stage. I was reminded of this pleasure when I read articles about young Computer Science entrepreneurs.
One of these young entrepreneurs was touted by network news as “the next Steve Jobs,” and I have to agree that when I saw him on stage, he was rather impressive! He is a sixth grade programming guru that has been creating apps for the iPhone and iPad. He even formed a club at school so that he could share his knowledge of programming with students who didn’t know how to program, giving him a place to share his passion. Thomas Suarez is a California middle school student who has been fascinated by computers and technology since before he started kindergarten. Thankfully, Thomas has been supported by his teachers, his family, and of course the good folks at the Apple Store. Once he has created the apps, they will be available free to local schools. Any revenue will go to local education programs. Thomas shares a philosophy much like mine: “students are a valuable new technology resource to teachers, and should be empowered to offer assistance in developing the technology curriculum and also assist in delivering the lessons.” (However, I did realize that fact some 20 years ago; maybe not so new. You can learn a lot from your students!)
Lest you think that only young men are the entrepreneurs of the CS world, there are also some young women making strides in the app development world. Two girl scouts in Dallas, Texas, working on a science and technology badge, developed a mobile app titled Teachers Best Friend. Grace Swierenga, 12, and Lindsey Hettish, 13, developed the app to help teachers grade tests more efficiently. These young women were inspired to develop the app through the STEM initiative. They were to promote their idea to executives from AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent so their idea could be realized. Kudos to the Girl Scouts as well as to AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent for inspiring young women to enter the world of computer science! Maybe one of these young women will be “the next Steve Jobs!”
How gratifying it is to see young entrepreneurs using their computer science skills to make the world a better place! As we near CS Education Week, what are you doing to inspire young people to excel in the world of Computer Science? Hopefully, you are one of those educators who can learn a lot from your students, and you have the good grace to stand back and let them take flight.
Deborah Seehorn
CSTA Board of Directors
Note: Articles referenced above may be accessed by following these links:
http://whatworks.wholechildeducation.org/blog/sixth-grader-builds-iphone-apps-and-sparks-learning-in-school/
http://www.tecca.com/news/2011/10/27/girl-scouts-app/

At a recent family gathering, my father-in-law delighted in the accomplishments of his four year old granddaughter who effortlessly navigated her mother’s iPad. He was awed by the ease with which she used the technology and, on the surface, who could blame him.
My niece is not alone. Technology has become a mainstay in the lives of most American children. What began as an infatuation with computer games has grown into a multi-media explosion, affecting even the youngest children long before they can read or write.
According to a recent report Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America issued by A Common Sense Media Research Study – Fall 2011: “Computer use is pervasive among very young children, with half (53%) of all 2 to 4 year olds having ever used a computer, and nine out of ten (90%) 5 to 8 year olds having done so. For many of these children, computer use is a regular occurrence: 22% of 5 to 8 year-olds use a computer at least once a day, and another 46% use it at least once a week.”
What does this obsession with using technology mean? Is it something to be envied, as evidenced by my father-in-law’s pride in his granddaughter’s dexterity, or should parents, grandparents and educators encourage, even very young children, to become creators, not just users, of technology? While on the surface, computer usage may be viewed as a necessity, I would argue that in today’s techno savvy world, we should be celebrating the creative energies of our children, not extolling the virtues of using media that has been pre-selected and created merely to sell merchandise.
Elementary students are no longer too young or too inexperienced to understand rudimentary computer science concepts. The numbers speak for themselves. By the time they are 8 years old, 60% of children have used handheld games, 81% have played console games, and 90% have used a computer.
I expose my students to computer programming in kindergarten. While they are eager to play games and paint picutres on the computer, my students true successes occur when they effectively create their first computer program.
So maybe now is the time to change the conversation, from exploring how much time children spend consuming media to examing ways to enhance the quality of their experiences. According the 2011 report from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop entitled Always Connected: the New Digital Media Habits of Young Children: “the challenge going forward is in establishing new models of using technology in effective, developmentally appropriate ways with young children.”
The time is ripe for change, and computer science is no longer the sole domain of adults. In the future, success will hinge not on how much our students know, but on their ability to think and act creatively. So why not help our children and our future by believing in them and by believing in their ability to learn. You are never too young to learn computer programming.
Patrice Gans
CSTA K-8 Representative

Most of us look forward to our winter breaks. After all, a break in routine is almost always a good thing. Most of us are conditioned to getting up at a certain hour, traveling to work following the same route, doing our last minute preparations for our classes, meeting with students during lunchtime, free-time and any other time, traveling back home, cooking (or eating) dinner, doing more preparations for classes, grading papers, MAYBE watching a bit of TV, and probably going to bed about the same time every day (never getting enough sleep).
Your routine MAY differ from this one, but probably not by much. It’s easy to get stuck in that “routine rut.” Some people like routine. They like everything to be predictable and without surprises. They like to know what to expect from their day. Well, the teaching profession offers diversity. No two days are the same. Each day offers different challenges and problems to solve. But we still follow a routine. In fact, most of us respond automatically to bells, whistles, buzzers, and fire alarms.
Well, now winter break is here (no bells or buzzers)! We have an opportunity to break our routine (if only for a week). We have time to catch-up on activities that we have put off. We have time to spend with our families and friends. We can actually get some well-needed and well-deserved sleep. We have time to play in the snow or relax by the fire or bask in the sun. OR DO WE?
I will admit that I look forward to my winter break to “catch-up” with my work. I use the time to finish tasks that I have not had time to complete or to get a job started so that I can be a step ahead when the new semester starts. And this is all so that I can go back to school without the pressure of feeling that I am behind. I know that many of you use your “winter break” to do work: to “catch up”. Find time in this vacation week to play. Enjoy your life and the people special to you. Use this time to energize yourself. When vacation is over, go back to school refreshed and ready to tackle the world. Find ways to break your daily routine. Try something new each day. Fifty ideas can be found at:
http://www.howtoarticlesabout.com/breaking-routine-life/
Enjoy your vacation.
Fran Trees
CSTA Chapter Liaison

I think of STEM and humanities as being the bookends of a quality education. Everyone needs exposure to and experience with both, or their education is incomplete and inadequate. Why do I think this?
There’s an interesting tension developing across the academic landscape these days. And it is playing out in industry as well. There’s a basic statement being made that runs something like this: “we have a crisis brewing, there are not enough scientists and engineers, we need everyone to go into the STEM disciplines. Besides, since that’s where all the jobs are, we should steer our children in that direction. The humanities are an unnecessary indulgence“.
We can see this reflected, as well, in statements by various government officials, at least at the state level. For example, Rick Scott, Governor of Florida, said that tax dollars should not be spent to educate people in the humanities and social sciences, but only be spent on science and high-tech studies (see http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-us-defendinghumaniti,0,7325375.story).
We do ourselves a huge disservice if we write off the humanities. And those of us in STEM fields should not allow political figures, state departments of education, superintendents, or college and university presidents to pit us against the humanities. In some ways we can see this as a fundamental left brain/right brain issue.
On the STEM side, we want to help students develop the scientific, computational, and engineering knowledge to logically solve interesting problems. We want the students of today to become the problem solvers of tomorrow, we want them to learn how to apply the constant stream of technological developments and scientific discoveries to healthcare and sustainability and a host of other areas. But where does the creative aha moment come from? What makes someone decide that a problem exists? Or that a problem might be interesting to solve? Or that the solution might make a significant difference to people’s lives? Or that the mashup of two areas might turn into a new powerful solution mechanism? What leads a medical school instructor to bring artists and art historians into the classroom in order to improve the observation skills of new doctors? What has motivated the explosion of work in visualization, which every day empowers deeper understanding of the vast amounts of data that can now be processed by computers? We need the humanities for these leaps.
Lynn Pasquerella, president of Mount Holyoke College, recently argued at:

that we have to reaffirm a commitment to develop humanistic tradition in ways that bridge scholarship with enduring questions. More simply, I would say that we need to provide a well rounded education so that those who excel in STEM understand that there are non-technical considerations that should guide their work, and those who study humanities understand that there are powerful problem solving mechanisms and tools that can open up new avenues of application for their knowledge. We need those with strength in the humanities to feel comfortable talking with those who have strength in STEM, and vice versa. This isn’t either-or, we have to expose students to both.
Rather than allowing ourselves to be divided, at every level we should be making the argument that “the other side” is a vital component to what we are trying to do with our students. Given the skewed state of the economy right now, the burden is even greater on those of us in STEM fields to argue for the importance of the humanities.
Valerie Barr
CSTA Computational Thinking Task Force Chair

While in Costa Rica running an Alice workshop at the Foundacion Omar Dengo (see my earlier blog posting), Alberto J. Canas came to the foundation to give a talk entitled “Creating an identity-based infrastructure that fosters learning and collaboration: Experiences with Project Connect to Knowledge in Panama.” He described his experiences with helping to run a 2 or 3-year project in Panama. This project in Panama received a great deal of government funding in 2006 to get computers and networking equipment for schools throughout Panama. There may also have been some money available for teacher professional development. However, when the government changed in 2008, the new government wasn’t interested in technology and technology education in K-12, and killed the program. And, it sounds like the use of technology in Panama has largely died down in K-12 over the past 3+ years. (I don’t think the Panamanians actually seriously integrated computer science into the K-12 curriculum, but I’m less confident about this last statement.)
I compare what happened in Panama with the computer science/technology education program in Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, the K-12 computing program has grown much slower than it did in Panama, and over a period of 25 years rather than 2. I get the impression that funding for computers and teacher professional development isn’t at risk in Costa Rica. Talking with the Project Development and International Relations Officer from the Omar Dengo Foundation, I learned that the Foundation has survived several changes of government, and while nervous with each change, the longstanding establishment of computing education as a value in K-12 education in Costa Rica has always led to continued funding of the foundation’s efforts.
I think of many of the recent K-12 CS education efforts in the US. I wonder if we are behaving more like Panama and less like Costa Rica. I hope that we all will think more strategically and longer term, as we hope to change the role of CS education in the K-12 arena in the US and in the rest of the world.
Steve Cooper
Chairperson, CSTA Board of Directors