Concerns About a Computer-Based AP CS Principles Exam

Posted on December 5, 2013 by CSTA Blog

As you know, CSTA has given enthusiastic support for the new Computer Science Principles course but as we move toward its widespread adoption in schools. We believe this is a great course and a game-changer for high school computer science education, but we are also worried about the fact that he current proposal is to have the Advanced Placement CS Principles exam offered exclusively online. Much of our concern is exemplified by the results of the E-Rate and Broadband Survey released by the Consortium for School Networks and MDR.
The results of this survey indicate that there are serious issues of access to broadband that will inevitably impact the ability of schools to offer this course and enable students write the exam. They show that the average school network cannot support broadband due to poor and outdated internal connections/wiring, backbone in the school LAN, and lack of sufficient wireless access points:

57% of districts do not believe their school’s wireless networks have the capacity to currently handle a 1:1 deployment.

Half of the wiring in school buildings is older, slower wiring (Cat5 and Cat3) that will not carry data at broadband speeds.

26% of districts are using slower copper or 2.3% wireless backbones in their school LAN.

Other key survey findings include:

Only 57% of elementary schools and 64% of secondary schools have all classrooms fully equipped with wireless Internet connectivity.

45% of districts participate in consortium buying, including 37% for Internet bandwidth, and overall nearly 44% of districts participate in more than one purchasing cooperative.

Rural schools pay six times more for connections than other schools/school systems. Likewise, very large school districts (+50K students) spend over three times more for WAN than other schools/school systems.

Schools need both financial support for ongoing monthly costs AND cost of capital or up-front/nonrecurring expenses covered by E-rate if we are to achieve broadband in schools. According to the survey, ongoing monthly costs (79% agreement) and cost of capital or up-front/nonrecurring expenses (59% agreement) are the two biggest barriers for schools.
Clearly, there are major issues of access to we need to grapple with before we can truly make this course available to all students in all schools.
Chris Stephenson
CSTA Executive Director

CSTA as a Creator of Change Agents

Posted on December 2, 2013 by CSTA Blog

CSTA has always been about creating change agents for CS education, that is, making every member a powerful force in getting things done. Summing up what various educator-leaders have accomplished over the past 10+ years would be a long list indeed! The momentum of change initiated by our chapters and individual members has gained speed over the years to what currently appears to be the dawn for a bright future in CS education.
While reading in the November issue of Tech & Learning magazine, I was spurred to reflect on the exciting changes I’ve seen in both the attention given to, and the public perception of, CS education. A small article at the bottom of page 32 caught my attention because it summarized how CSTA has influenced me and apparently many other CS educators. The article by Jean Tower, Director of Technology in the Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough, Massachusetts, listed Three Change Leadership Practices.
1. Shine the light. Bring focus and energy to the problems you want to solve. Spread the word to parents and community. Tell a compelling story. Paint a picture that’s desirable.
2. Loose/Tight leadership. Create a core set of principles everyone agrees on. People within that framework can make leaps of creativity that make change happen. Think for yourself and find the way to bring core principles to life.
3. Build relationships. Without strong relationships, on one will move ahead and change won’t happen. Build a climate where people are not afraid to take risks. Create a platform for teachers’ voices, one bite at a time.
Without a doubt, CSTA members have grown into influential change agents with these principles as the wind at our backs. The CSTA Voice is packed with articles of incredible changes brought about by CSTA change leaders. Congratulate yourself and fellow members on hard work and amazing results.
Pat Phillips, Editor
CSTA Voice

Getting and Keeping Computer Science Teachers in K-12

Posted on November 27, 2013 by CSTA Blog

With the recent publication of the new CSTA report Bugs in the System: Computer Science Teacher Certification in the U.S. CSTA has shone another white hot spotlight on the systemic barriers that keep good teachers from becoming computer science teachers. Today, however, I’ve been thinking about what comes next and I”ve realized that there is almost no discussion about keeping the good teachers we have. When are we going to start dealing with the fact that we are driving great CS teachers away from our classrooms?
The U.S. is only one nation that is now grappling with how to entice people with computer science knowledge into teaching. In Britain, for example, the British Computer Society (BCS) is administering a government-funded program that will award a number of $38,000 grants to new computer science teachers. Those not successful with the BCS grants may still qualify for a grant of $30,000 if they have a strong computer science academic record.
Right now, we only dream of such a program in the U.S. But even if we had one, the sad truth is that we would lose far too many of the teachers we attracted. According to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, one-third of all new teachers leave after three years, and 46 percent are gone within five years. In other words, half of the investment made in recruiting, training, and hiring new teachers is lost within the first five years.
And little wonder. Why would any smart person with a degree in computer science want to go into teaching? Who would want to be underpaid (many teachers must have a second job to earn a livable wage while computer scientists receive excellent starting salaries), under-supplied (on average teachers spend $1,200 per year buying basic supplies for their classrooms and many CS teachers spend a great deal more), and over-regulated (the paperwork is mind-numbing).
Some states have begun grappling with the challenge of keeping good teachers by offering incentive pay in “high-need” disciplines. I am not sure this is the answer. But I do know we have to do something. We need people with great minds and great hearts to prepare our students to thrive in a world in which computing is ubiquitous. We can no longer afford to chase good teachers away from our discipline by undervaluing and de-professionalizing them.
Chris Stephenson
CSTA Executive Director

Where is the CS Pipeline?

Posted on November 25, 2013 by CSTA Blog

I was contacted by a CS/Math teacher last month who had an interest in hosting CS camps for elementary school students. Since our local CSTA Advocacy group was scheduled to meet that week, I invited him to attend the meeting and we had a great chat about CS education, advocacy, children, and many other interesting and relevant topics.
To me, the most thought-provoking conversation started with: Ask a student in a 4th grade math class why she is taking 5th grade math next year. She’ll say, “It’s the next course.” Ask a student in 9th grade Geometry why he is taking Algebra II next year. He’ll say, “It’s the next course.” Ask a student in pre-Calculus why she is taking Calculus next year. She’ll say, “It’s the next course.”
Our conversation continued with, “We do not have that pipeline in computer science” The 4th grade student has to be exposed to CS and there has to be “a next course.” There has to ALWAYS be a next course in CS.
We are failing drastically at all educational levels because there is no CS pipeline. Few elementary schools and middle schools offer any course in CS. Some high schools offer AP CS A. But AP CS A is not “the next course” for most students. It is the only CS course. We try desperately to have our high schools implement a CS course and/or count CS as a math or science. This is a start. But one CS course isn’t the answer. We have to build that pipeline from the ground up.
Computer Science Education Week, December 9-15, is a great time to start to start building that pipeline. The Hour of Code, part of CS Ed Week, aims to introduce more than 10 million students of all ages to the basics of coding, demystifying computing for those who think programming is hard.
Help build the CS pipeline. Visit an elementary school classroom and introduce the students to CS! See:
http://csedweek.org/
for ideas and tutorials.
Fran Trees
CSTA Board of Directors-Chapter Liaison

Getting the Most from Conferences

Posted on November 22, 2013 by CSTA Blog

As you may already know, the 2014 CSTA conference on K-12 computer science education will take place July 14 and 15 at the beautiful Pheasant Run resort in St. Charles , IL (just outside of Chicago) and CSTA wants to make sure that all of the attendees find the conference as stimulating and rewarding as possible.
Each year, the conference planning committee strives to make this the best CSTA conference ever. Over the last few years this has included adding and expanding the selection of half-day workshops and break-out sessions and adding in-conjunction events. We also videotape several of the sessions so that attendees (and other CSTA members) can see presentations they were unable to attend in person.
But there are also things that you can do to make the CSTA annual conference a more professionally and personally rewarding experience for you. Here are a few simple tips.
1. Plan in advance. Read the session descriptions and presenter biographies posted on the conference website prior to the conference at so you can decide in advance which ones will best meet your learning needs. (http://csta.acm.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/sub/CSTAConference.html)
2. Pick topics that strengthen your weak points. This way you can increase your chances of learning something new.
3. Take advantage of opportunities for networking. Casual conversation after sessions, during meals, and at the reception can help you expand your professional community.
4. Ask questions and listen. It is very likely that other workshop and session attendees share similar issues and they might be able to provide new insights or ideas.
5. Move outside your circle of friends. Making an effort to talk to and socialize with people you don’t already know will help you make new professional contacts.
6. Jot down new ideas, insights, questions or solutions on index cards and include contact information if this came from an interesting new colleague.
7. Apply new ideas immediately. The real value of any professional development event is the ability to take ideas and strategies home with you and put them to work.
While it is true that these tips can be applied to any professional development experience, we hope that they will encourage you to attend the only conference that is focuses exclusively on K-12 computer science and information and so is designed especially for you.
What helps you get the most of the PD events that you attend?
Chris Stephenson
CSTA Executive Director

Changing the World One Step at a Time: Introducing CS in the Middle School

Posted on November 20, 2013 by CSTA Blog

I’ve taught middle school for fifteen years. Every year, after the students have graduated and moved on to high school, most of them return to thank me. Normally, my current students do not make an effort to thank me or acknowledge me in any positive way. To them, I am an evil math teacher who makes them solve problems without giving them hints. Well, this year is very different!
This year, our small parochial school started a computer science and robotics program for fifth through eighth grade students. We had been awarded a small math and science grant in the spring of last year. When I reached out to my support network of family, friends, and colleagues who taught math to ask what new graphics calculators we should get, my aunt, a CS professor, responded, “Why calculators? You could get a robot for a hundred dollars!” And there it began.
I thought I was going to start with a small computer club, maybe about ten interested students. Well, the administration was so excited about the prospect of a computer club, I was asked to develop a weekly course program for all middle school grade levels! Thanks in large part to an intense and highly informative CS conference hosted at Rutgers University, a colleague and I were able develop a pilot program to begin educating our students in CS. The course meets weekly, is required, and lasts 75 minutes.
Earlier this year there was a shortened morning schedule because of an assembly. This meant shortened CSR (computer science and robotics) time for the students. The groans of disappointment from the classes scheduled for CSR that day echoed through the building after morning announcements. This is not an exaggeration. The only other period that ever gets that response if it is shortened is recess.
Thanks to CS Unplugged, my colleague had plenty of great lessons while our computer lab underwent necessary repairs after flooding. We are very excited to have our students animate using Scratch 2.0, to complete our When the Finch Stole Christmas activity, to problem-solve while building and programming Lego Mindstorms, and whatever else we can include before the end of the year in June.
Last week, an eighth grader that I’ve taught for three years who has a rather severe learning disability approached me to say that he loved binary code. This is a child who, when given two to the third power, would have answered “six” eternally, if not for the perspective presented during CSR. I tried everything (at least I thought I had) before this. I watched him complete a binary code puzzle without aid, and everything was correct. A seventh grader who had attended a robotics camp over the summer expressed that it was amazing to have a “fun block” once a week. The eighth grade girls unanimously objected when the boys asked if it was a program meant for boys. The students, all students, simply cannot wait to attend their CSR class, and I can’t wait to go with them.
Considering everything they don’t know quite yet: the impact CS education will have on the their future, the future of our country, the world of education and employment opportunities that will be available to them personally, the theoretical aspect of cognitive development, the response is already incredible.
I hope that when the graduates visit me next fall they will still tell me that my work affected them deeply, but I have a feeling that the first thing they come back to thank me for this time will be computer science, even if they’ve already said it.
We are sharing our CSR program with the diocesan administrators this week with hope that our efforts can motivate others to initiate similar programs in parochial schools throughout the diocese. What a great way to celebrate CS Ed Week.
Marieve Patterson
Sacred Heart School
Mount Holly, NJ
Proudly submitted for my niece!
Fran Trees
CSTA Board of Directors-Chapter Liaison

Forays Into the Flipped Classroom

Posted on November 18, 2013 by CSTA Blog

One of the buzzwords in education today is the flipped classroom. I was prompted to try out this model last year when I came down with a stomach bug that prevented me from going to school for four days. We were about to start on a new unit about functions, so if I wanted my students to stay on track with my curriculum and proceed with their labs, I had to find a way to deliver the content to move forward. I sat down with my laptop and found free software to capture the screen. While there are several out there, I chose Camstudio to use. It took me a few tries to coordinate what I wanted to say and what I wanted students to see on the screen. I uploaded the video to my school website and emailed the students the link and instructions on the lab assignment. While it wasn’t truly a flipped classroom, the concept was there.
The feedback when I returned to school was positive. Many of the students, mostly females interestingly enough, commented that they really liked that they could pause the video and/or rewind and play back parts of the video when they needed to go over some difficult concept. I had in the past received feedback from my students that I sometimes go too fast when introducing new topics, especially when I am writing code and they are trying to follow along on their computers. Knowing that the flipped classroom approach helped out those students who wanted a slower pace or might take longer to process new information, I was intrigued to try to truly flip my classroom.
Since then I have occasionally used this model, although I admit not completely. I do like to get the immediate feedback from students when presenting a new concept, where they can ask questions and contribute to the coding on the projector. However, flipping the classroom does help some students, and allows for more time in class for students to work on labs and assignments and to receive individual attention. I am curious if other people have tried flipping their Computer Science classroom and what their experiences have been. Please share!
Karen Lang
9-12 Representative
CSTA Board of Directors

CSTA Seeking CS Education Leaders for Board Positions

Posted on November 16, 2013 by CSTA Blog

As we approach the start of the new calendar year, it is time to start the CSTA Board of Directors nominations and elections process once again. CSTA is a member organization led by a working board of directors. The affairs and property of CSTA are managed, controlled, and directed by an elected Board of Directors. The future and health of the CSTA organization depend upon the quality and dedication of the CSTA Board of Directors leadership. The Board of Directors consists of officers representing various aspects of computer science education. All CSTA Board of Directors positions must be held by individuals who are professionally connected to K-12 computer science education and are CSTA members. I encourage interested CSTA members to apply or to encourage other qualified members to submit an application.
The following CSTA Director positions will be vacated on May 31, 2013 and will be filled during the 2014 CSTA Board of Directors Election:

9-12 Representative (1 position): A 9-12 classroom teacher who is currently teaching computer science at the high school level.

At-Large Representative (1 position): An educator with responsibilities for K-12 CS education.

International Representative (1 position): An international (outside the United States) classroom teacher who is currently teaching or promoting computer science at the pre-collegiate level.

School District Representative (1 position): An administrator whose focus is technology or curriculum across multiple schools.

Teacher Education Representative (1 position): A college- or university-level faculty member who has primary responsibility for the instruction of pre-service and/or in-service teachers of computer science and/or computing disciplines.

University Faculty Representative (1 position): A faculty member from a university computing department offering graduate degrees in computer science.
CSTA is dedicated to promoting diversity in K-12 computer science education as well as on its Board. We strongly encourage all qualified individuals to apply.

In February, at the close of the nominations period, the Nominations and Elections Committee of the CSTA Board will select the two most qualified applicants in each position for inclusion on the ballot. Late nominations will not be accepted.
The CSTA Board is a working Board, and all Directors are required to attend two Board meetings per year and are expected to contribute meaningfully by participating on at least two committees. This year, the CSTA Directors are required to participate in the following Board events in St. Charles, IL:

July 13, 2014: New Board Member Orientation

July 14-15, 2014: CSTA Annual Conference

July 16, 2014 CSTA Committee Meetings

July 17-18, 2014: Full Board meeting

To begin the nominations process, download the 2014 CSTA Nominations Form from the CSTA website at:
ttp://csta.acm.org/About/sub/CSTAGovernance.html
Submit your completed Nominations Form AND your current résumé of experience to the Elections Committee by emailing it to nominations@csta.acm.org. The documents may be submitted in Microsoft Word or PDF format; PDF is preferred. The Nominations deadline is February 1, 2014.
Each candidate’s personal statement and responses to the four questions in the Nominations Form will be posted on the CSTA website and included on the ballot. Statements will be truncated at the word-count limit if necessary. The candidate’s résumé will not be made public. The election will take place online, beginning April 2, 2014. All CSTA members in good standing will be eligible to vote. The election will close May 5, 2014. Results will be posted May 17, 2014.
CSTA is seeking committed CS education leaders to serve on the CSTA Board of Directors. We encourage all interested and qualified individuals to submit an application. You may be the passionate and dedicated CS educator that will help lead the CSTA Board during the next two years. Please thoughtfully consider submitting your application today.
Deborah Seehorn
CSTA Board of Directors Chair
Nominations and Elections Committee Chair

Online Professional Learning Communities for CS Teachers

Posted on November 13, 2013 by CSTA Blog

Last week, the NSF brought together leaders of the CS10K effort to discuss potential online supports for teachers and students in computer science. Though the concept of “blended learning” is not new for either student learning or professional development, the boom of the current market working to leverage online computer science learning to “reach” large numbers of students is undeniable.
As participants at this meeting noted, there are differences in educational objectives when designing and teaching in dynamic, high-quality learning communities and when merely providing a one-directional “content delivery” of concepts without much attention to actual learning. We should not conflate issues of delivery platforms with those of good instructional design.
By the end of the meeting, I was convinced that online learning communities have great potential to support and extend professional learning, but ideally after teachers have an initial opportunity to participate in face-to-face professional development. This initial face-to-face experience builds the foundation for a trusting learning community amongst participants before transitioning to online interactions.
The CS10K Community of Practice, an online professional community for Exploring Computer Science and CS Principles teachers, offers a dynamic example of this type of online environment that seeks to build upon, not supplant, face-to-face professional development for teachers. Though only in its first year, the iterative efforts of this online space have been impressive. A slideshow of impact can be seen here:
http://cs10kcommunity.org/resources/cs10k-community-progress-plans-possibilities
What do you think? What possibilities can you imagine for creating online learning spaces for computer science teachers?
Joanna Goode
CSTA Equity Chair

New Resources to Support a New Perspective

Posted on November 11, 2013 by CSTA Blog

There has been a lot of excitement lately in the news about the importance of teaching students to code, but in the midst of all the excitement, many students, parents and teachers have been turning to single dimension solutions that entail learning to program separate from the underlying pedagogy of computational thinking and creative problem solving. As a computer science teacher, I am thrilled by the renewed interested in coding, however, it is not enough.
When I began teaching computer science, over six year ago at Fraser Woods Montessori (FWM) School in Newtown, CT, my initial approach was to focus my energy and my students’ learning on the mechanics of programming. However, my recent switch this past August, to the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (Lab), where I am now teaching computer science (for graders 5th & 6th) has prompted me to rethink my educational philosophy and goals to focus on computational best practices.
Originally, when I began incorporating programming into my curriculum at FWM, I did not think beyond the acquisition of programming skills. My lessons simply focused on teaching a variety of different programming languages (i.e. Scratch, App Inventor and HTML). So when I started developing my curriculum for Lab, my initial approach was to simply adopt those lessons from my old school. As the school year began to unfold, I realized that I wanted my students to understand and internalize so much more. According to the Partnership for the 21st Century, “A focus on creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration is essential to prepare students for the future”. I had examined these skills in the past, written about them, and even referred to them in conversations with fellow faculty and administrators, but I had never truly internalized them.
At first I had no idea where to begin my quest to re-design my curriculum. Thankfully, I was not alone. Conversations with Baker Franke, Marty Billingsly and Karen Putman, colleagues and fellow computer science teachers at Lab, helped me find a starting point. It seemed that the curriculum I was seeking could be found in established high school computer science syllabi. One such program, “Exploring Computer Science”, developed by Joanna Goode from the University of Oregon, and Gail Chapman from the University of California, Los Angeles proved to be an excellent resource. The goal of Exploring Computer Science “to develop in students the computational practices of algorithm development, problem solving and programming within the context of problems that are relevant to the lives of today’s students” satisfied my desire to make my class more about computer science than about computer programming. In particular the pedagogical approach of ECS, which aligns with Linda Darling-Hammond’s 2007 book, Powerful Learning: What we Know About Teaching for Understanding is exactly where I hope to be at some point in the future with my own curriculum.
Specifically the ideals of:

Creating ambitious and meaningful tasks that reflect how knowledge is used in the field;

Engaging students in, so that they apply and test what they know; and

Encouraging strategic and metacognitive thinking, so that students can learn to evaluate and guide their own learning.

While, I am still in the process of reviewing the material and looking for those pieces that would be best suited for the middle school classroom, I am confident that the curriculum’s three unifying themes:
(1) the creative nature of computing,
(2) technology as a tool for solving problems, and
(3) the relevance of computer science and its impact on society
are perfect for my students.
Another curriculum that I recently discovered is the work on Pair programming from ETR’s Youth and Technology department. This was an ideal addition as I was looking for ways to incorporate collaboration into my lessons. According to the Partnership for the 21st Century, collaboration is an essential skill for all students. Including Pair Programming into my curriculum allowed my students to experience “shared responsibility for collaborative work, and learn to value the individual contributions made by” each person. Besides developing social skills, working in pairs has been demonstrated to increase confidence, satisfaction and the enjoyment in the experience of programming, it has also been shown to increase learning, investment and interest in programming for both boys and girls. Recent self-reflection from my students confirmed these findings. My students were not only learning how to program, but also learning the benefits of shared responsibility. They definitely agreed that two heads are better than one.
I have only been at my new school for a little over two months. It is hard to believe that so little time has actually passed since I have learned so much. But, my learning, as well as that of my students, as really only just begun. I have more curriculum to explore, more books to read, and many more rewarding conversations to enjoy. The next 10 months promises to be an amazing journey.
Resources:
Exploring Computer Science – http://www.exploringcs.org/curriculum.
Scratch Ed – http://scratched.media.mit.edu/
ETR’s Youth and Technology Department (www.etr.org/youthandit/resources.html).
NCWIT’s Pair Programming in a box – http://www.ncwit.org/resources/pair-programming-box-power-collaborative-learning
Patrice Gans
CSTA K-8 Representative

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