As computer science educators, we see the need for computer science education. There is an element of self-interest, but we believe computer science knowledge and skills are among the most essential ingredients of a modern education.
It is frustrating, therefore, when legislators, school administrators, and the public do not “see the light” and embrace computer science as a valuable 21st century skill. Curriculum reflects our values and it is obvious that our societal values have not changed to include computer science knowledge as compulsory and not elective (along with other subjects we don’t think are worthy of mandating, such as art and music.)
No matter how one feels about it, the accountability movement controls educational policy in the U.S. And within the system we have, math and English are important, science is less important, and nothing else is important. If we want to be important, we can agitate for a change in priority or we can hitch our star to things that are already considered important.
I have a theory that taught correctly, computer science could improve math scores. Programs such as Bootstrap are already using computer science to improve kids’ math skills.
What do you think?
Can we work within a framework of math (or English or science) to teach fundamental computer science skills?
Would this enhance other disciplines?
Michelle Hutton
CSTA President
Category Archives: News and Views
Equity Part 1: Why Should We Care about Issues of Equity
There has been an increased emphasis on equity issues in computer science education in recent years, supported largely by NSF programs aimed at broadening participation in computing. Yet, I have found that when folks talk about equity, they often have different viewpoints on why we should be addressing equity, what equity means, and how to achieve equity in the K-12 computer science classroom. Based on my experiences as an AP computer science teacher in a diverse high school, and involvement in the Exploring Computer Science program in Los Angeles schools, I offer my own viewpoints on what equity means to me in computing classrooms. This is the first in a series of blogs tackling these issues around equity in computer science, the most segregated subject offered in K-12 education.
Why should we address equity?
Though many cite economic purposes for working towards equity, I hesitate to use this reasoning as my central purpose for the equity-based work I do. Certainly, we are missing out on the creative potential of over 70% of the population when we continue with a vast under-representations of people of color and females in the computing industry. Also, these underrepresented groups are at a disadvantage personally if they do not have the sufficient preparation to become computer scientists, a growing profession with a higher-than-average salary for graduates with college degrees. But, this is not a particularly compelling argument to lead with around issues of equity except for those who are college CS professors or working in the industry. Then, to those outside of computer science, this economic/industry perspective is seen as a self-serving argument. Certainly, we don’t argue for universal literacy in order to prepare children to be English majors or work as journalists, etc., but we believe everyone should have the opportunity to read and write because it is a fundamental skill needed to maximize opportunities and interests in our society. We need to back away from leading with an economic perspective as the reason to address equity issues for the same reasons.
For me, equity is a social justice issue, a new frontier in civil rights. As a community, we are arguing that computational thinking is an essential 21st century skill. So in this vein, we need to prepare all students to have this fundamental knowledge to be able to fully participate in society, including girls and students of color. As civil rights leader and the Algebra project director Bob Moses cautions, students of color will become “the serfs of the Information Age” unless we work for equal opportunity and access in computing education. If education is a fundamental human right in our country, then access and equity in computer science is certainly a part of the 21st century model of education that should support this purpose of schooling.
What about you? What is your purpose for addressing equity in computer science?
Joanna Goode
CSTA Board of Directors
Will Rising Enrollments Stifle Partnerships?
Mark Guzdial’s recent blog contained an interesting article from Eric Roberts:
Guest Post: Eric Roberts on the Dangers of Escalating Enrollments
Eric points out that CS enrollments at Stanford have rebounded to record numbers. Other responders to Eric’s comments note similar improvements in numbers of students in introductory computing classes at other bellwether schools. While this is likely good news for the US economy, and for the colleges that have not cut their CS departments so as not to be able to handle the soon to be increases in students, it raises the point that CS enrollments in college are cyclical. Following probably 4-5 years after industry crashes and booms (once a student is in a program, (s)he is somewhat stuck when the tech sector tanks – conversely, when it rebounds, students who chose to enter CS spend 4 years completing their baccalaureate degrees prior to entering the workforce).
My fear, as we see this (hoped for) rebound in numbers of students at the collegiate level is that the colleges will “forget about” the needs of teachers and students in K-12. I believe that during this past tech-downturn, many colleges and K-12 schools began to meet, talk, and build partnerships. College faculty rightly recognized that K-12 students’ insufficient exposure to computing was not making them more likely to sample computing classes at college. Certainly, many local CSTA chapters have significant higher ed contributions.
While colleges may well start to see this rebound in the number of students, the needs of K-12 educators remain, as do the challenges of exposing more K-12 students to high quality computing content. I think that the partnerships that have developed over the past several years should be maintained and grown, even if the colleges (temporarily) become less needing of the students from their K-12 brethren.
Steve Cooper
CSTA Vice-President
Competing With or Capitalizing On Pop Culture
How do we try to encourage students to do computer science or engineering? How much does pop culture play into it? Does it hurt it? Can it help?
I recently found out that Mattel released a new Barbie – Computer Engineer Barbie:
http://www.chipchick.com/2010/02/computer-engineer-barbie.html
I’ve never been into Barbie dolls, but I found it interesting. Would girls having (or even knowing there exists) a Computer Engineer Barbie help encourage more girls to get interested in the field? At least it brings awareness to the field. They’ll know it exists. That’s a start and maybe a huge one.
We need to have more examples out there for girls and boys to see. Back in the 1980s there was a show called Knight Rider featuring a car (named K.I.T.T.). The car came complete with a talking onboard computer capable of controlling every aspect of the car, with or without the driver’s help. I have always wanted to have a car like K.I.T.T. New in-car technologies such as GPSs, self-parking, and emergency activated satellite tracking and calling are getting us closer to my dream car, but we are not quite there yet.
The other wonderful element of Knight Rider was that the person in charge of it was an amazing, intelligent engineer AND a woman. It was the first time I had heard of the term “computer engineer.” They showed her working to solve problems and create features in a tangible way. Programming and engineering at its finest.
It is important to meet students where they are and their point of reference. Having students meet and shadow real computer scientists and engineers is great, but this is not possible for many students.
So we need to highlight and emphasize these examples we see in the media (movies, television shows, etc.). They may not be perfect, but at least students can recognize them.
Barbie might not be showing what a computer engineer does, but at least she seems to be thinking about something besides marrying Ken. Perhaps Engineering Barbie can peak student interest and get a discussion going. Here’s hoping!
Shirley Miranda
CSTA Board of Directors
In Praise of Brevity
For those of us at universities, the school year is winding down. I am teaching our second semester course this spring, and I usually try to add some off-syllabus material at the end about Java Swing, layouts, event handling, and other things involved in programming window popping and GUIs. I have in the past used the first 15 pages or so from a book that doesn’t happen to be the textbook for the course, because that particular book happens to have the simplest, quickest, cleanest introduction to the topic of any text I have seen. And I have felt that excerpting 15 pages from a standard 500-plus book was legitimate fair use and did not create a copyright infringement problem.
However, when I went looking this semester for my book, I find that I have loaned out the book; I don’t have a copy, and I can’t find a copy in any of my colleagues’ offices either. And I can’t find the photocopy of the excerpt; that must be buried in a file cabinet that got reshuffled when I moved offices.
No problem, or so I thought. There is a new edition of the book that has come out, and I do happen to have a copy of that.
Or so I thought. Trouble is, the authors apparently couldn’t let well enough alone. The beauty of the earlier edition’s text was that it presented just enough to allow one to start doing Swing. Not all the bells and whistles were there, but there was enough to allow one to start with some basic programs, and then, with some effort in reading the Java documentation carefully, to expand on the basics to do more clever things. It was from that short excerpt that I started and then built out a Sudoku solving program with clicks and colors and logic. (I find that nearly all puzzles can be solved with an essentially greedy approach.)
The new edition, though, has expanded 15 pages into about 70. Yes, this is a lot more complete, but it’s also a lot harder to teach because it covers lots of details along the way, where the earlier edition just hit the high points.
Sometimes less is more. I find it hard to justify maybe three weeks of a semester just on the niceties of changing colors on windows, or showing how to make the lyrics of a Lada Gaga song flash on and off in a script font while the song is playing in the background. This is cool stuff, but it’s not really what our students need as core material. I would rather give them examples of the half-dozen options of The Big Picture and then let them explore details on their own.
Sometimes less is more.
Duncan Buell
CSTA Board of Directors
Do You Have a “Split Personality” in Your CS Classroom
Sometimes it feels like you are up against a brick wall. Your own principal threatens to cancel your AP CS course due to low enrollment and budgetary restrictions. It’s funny (or not) how the enrollment minimum keeps increasing each year. Two years ago a course would run with 8 students. Now, the minimum is 18. This, and various other budget issues put your job in jeopardy.
So you convince the administration to offer your AP CS course. Of course, for this to happen, you agree to teach the course in the same room and at the same time as your Intro to CS course (a course in a different language).
What other teacher in what other discipline would agree to do this?
Would the AP Chemistry teacher agree to teach AP Chemistry at the same time and in the same room as an introductory chemistry class?
Does the Spanish teacher teach introductory Italian in the same room at the same time as AP Spanish?
What other disciplines are asked to do what you are asked to do? Who wins in a situation where the teacher is asked to do two jobs at the same time? What does it mean to “win” or to “lose”? How do you keep your sanity? Are the students getting shortchanged? How do your non-computer science colleagues feel about this?
If you are a teacher experiencing a “split personality,” what are your secrets to success?
Fran Trees
CSTA Chapter Liaison
No More Excuses for Lack of Access
One of the concerns we frequently hear from our members is that administrators and policy makers are not convinced of the need for students to have access to rigorous computer science courses in high school. I think perhaps the best evidence for this need comes from industry.
The figures on jobs provide ample evidence of the growing need for highly skilled computer scientists. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the IT workforce has grown steadily:
Between 2008 and 2018 the total US employment is projected to increase by 15.3 million jobs, or 10 percent, which is about the same as the 15.6 million jobs or 10 percent increase that was projected from 2006 to 2016. While overall job growth is expected to slow, the increasing retirement of the aging baby boomers is also expected to create a significant number of job openings (which are not counted in the projections of new jobs). Of these 15.3 million jobs, the professional IT workforce is projected to add a little under a million new jobs, (814,900) an increase of about 22 percent.
But what is the connection to high schools? Recent information provided by Google and Microsoft indicates that exposure to computer science in high school is critical.
In the summer of 2010 Google conducted a survey of a sample of its U.S. employees about their exposure to computer science prior to college. They compared the results of those who majored in CS in college to those who majored in another subject. Here are the key findings:
Based on these findings, Google concluded that exposing students to CS before college is crucial to growing interest and enrollment in computer science majors and careers.
When I asked Kevin Schofield, General Manager for Strategy and Communications at Microsoft Research if this conclusion was consistent with Microsoft’s employment research, Kevin said:
Microsoft sees early exposure to computer science as critical to getting kids informed and excited about both the importance of CS to the national economy and the career opportunities it provides. The company supports thousands of its own employees to share their knowledge and expertise with local school districts as frequent visitors and speakers at schools through a program called EduConnect.
Over the past few years Microsoft and Google have been extremely active supporters of CSTA’s efforts to support and improve computer science education in K-12, precisely because they know that early exposure to CS is critical for students, for companies, and for the national economy.
Maybe it is time for administrators and policy makers to be required to explain how they can continue to deny students access to critical skills and career opportunities.
Chris Stephenson
CSTA Executive Director
Spring is Here!
The calendar has now reached the beginning of spring. With the arrival of the birds singing and flowers blooming also comes eighth graders and high school students choosing classes for the coming school year.
Attracting students to Computer Science classes can be a challenge. Computer Science teachers are working against the stereotype that CS is geeky and only for boys. With school funding becoming an issue nationwide, keeping students enrolled in CS classes has become a possible lifeline for not only the offering of the classes but the teaching position.
Where have seen success in attracting students to your CS classes? Share what works for you so that others can duplicate your success.
Dave Burkhart
CSTA Board of Directors
Putting Money Where it Counts: Teacher Salaries
President Obama wants to spend $90 million on ARPA-ED, an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Education. The goal is to fund porjects that will “transform teaching and learning in ways similar to how the Internet, BPS, and robotics have transformed commerce, travel, warfare, and the way we live our daily lives.” This is generally interpreted to mean “let’s put more technology into education.”
My view? Before we put more technology into education, let’s make sure that educators and the existing educational process are valued. Let’s put $90 million (and then some) into increasing teacher salaries. If teachers were paid what some lawyers are paid (if teachers were paid even half of what some lawyers are paid!), we’d have amazing schools, and we’d turn out incredible students. All the cool technology in the world won’t improve education if we don’t have high quality well paid teachers delivering education in well supported schools.
Valerie Barr
CSTA CT Task Force Chair
What is the Big Deal With Java?
What is the big deal with Java?
I teach at a public school of excellence that can best be described as a magnet school for the state. We are currently in our recruiting season where we have information sessions and students visiting for the day. I feel like I am constantly on defense when I tell prospective students (and their parents) that the language we use in our course is Racket, formerly Scheme. I tell them the reasons why we use Racket: that it is an incredibly effective introductory language with simple syntax. I also explain that in their second year with us, when they are seniors taking courses at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, they will use Racket in their introductory freshman CS course. I explain that language is irrelevant, that what they are learning is how to problem solve using a particular tool. I tell them that they are 11th graders in high school and that they will have many years to learn many languages, but the concepts are what are important.
Often, I experience the prospective student who has taught himself Java and has programmed numerous advanced programs. He looks at me dumbstruck, like I just dashed all his dreams by telling him he’ll be learning an obscure language that is not used by Apple and Microsoft and Electronic Arts so why would it ever be useful.
The students who seem to get the most out of the course are the ones who don’t have any pre-conceived notions of programming, who have heard of Java and C++ but don’t really have a clue what those terms mean. I think many of the experienced programmers just feel as if they are biding their time to get through my course in order to move on to the more mainstream languages they’ll learn at WPI and in college. They don’t see it as an opportunity to learn something new, but a penance they have to bear to move on. I do get the occasional uh-huh moment with some students when they finally see some of the benefits of a functional language like Racket. But those are few.
What has been your experience with choosing a language to teach?
I know introductory language choices are up for discussion on many CS education listservs.
Do you have any thoughts on talking points that I can use with my students?
Karen Lang
CSTA Board of Directors