What should I do to get more girls interested in computer science?
This is one of those questions that you hear almost everywhere and to which even the most experienced researchers only have partial answers.
Recently, there has been a thread on the AP List Serv concerning how to increase the diversity of our computer science classes (specifically gender diversity) and this thread has raised questions about how we talk about equity issues.
For example, does the language that we use to promote computer science to girls unnecessarily disparage boys? While stating that boys can be “pushy” or “geeky” may help the girls better understand and navigate classroom computing realities, what effect does this kind of language have on boys, especially boys for whom this is not standard behavior?
The reality is that anything we can do to improve computer science education for underrepresented populations, improves the learning experience for all students. A rising tide really does lift everyone.
When you are investigating recruiting materials for your classes for next year, be sure to look for resources that do not disparage any population that might be a part of your class.
Here are some links to CSTA materials on equity that can help you with your recruitment activities.
Classroom Careers Resources
CSTA Voice which contains many articles about increasing diversity and tools you can use.
CSTA’s Recommended Resources Page which contains a variety of resources, many of which encourage enrollment in CS for all.
Leigh Ann Sudol
CSTA Communications Chair

Dr. Jakob Nielsen, often referred to as an expert on usability, and a well known name in software and website design recently posted an article about “Life-Long Computer Skills” on his alertbox page at useit.com.
Several of the topics presented by Dr. Nielsen parallel with what CSTA is recommending in the ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science. Here are some of the alignments.
Dr. Nielsen talks about:
Information Credibility and Information Overload, which is discussed as being topic number 10 in both the grade level 3-5 and 6-8 topics.
Writing for Online Readers, which is discussed as being topic number 10 in the K-2 topics, and topic number 6 in the 3-5 topics.
Computerized Presentation Skills, which is discussed as being topic number 8 in the K-2 topics, and topics number 4, 5, 6, and 8 in the 6-8 topics.
Debugging as the process of fixing mistakes in a computer medium (ie errors in spreadsheet formulas) which can be seen throughout all of the grade levels in the model curriculum.
Isn’t it nice when outside sources confirm that what you are advocating is a good idea?
The more education is coming into the spotlight, the more people agree that teaching computer skills and computational based thinking to all students is a good idea.
Share this information with your colleagues, your administrators and people in your district at all grade levels!
Leigh Ann Sudol
Chair, Communications Committee

Over the past couple of decades we have witnessed major changes in the culture of our country and the way that people interact with it on an everyday basis. Within such a short period of time the way in which humans in a large percent of the world, and definitely in a large part of America receive and process information has completely changed.
It seems silly, but for the past year or so I have referred to the current generation of students as the iPod generation. This labeling came about for a variety of reasons, least of all because none of them ever seem to be without their iPod. For them computing is ubiquitous. It pervades their transportation, their recreation, everything.
As educators we often try and win the “distraction” war where we ask students to put away and turn off their electronic devices, almost as if they were in an airplane about to take off and we were afraid it was going to interfere with our instrumentation. There are so many case studies of where teacher’s are engaging their students with electronic media (podcasts, wikis, class blogs, etc.) without taking time away from their curriculum.
As computer science teachers we are also faced with this dilemma. There are so many tools out there to be used in the classroom to bring media in as a part of programming. They include but are definitely not limited to Alice, Karel the Robot, and all of the programs where teachers have created curriculum to do media manipulation as introductory programming assignments.
There is a good article that was recently published in Edutopia that I would strongly recommend for any educator, computer science or otherwise. The article entitled “Synching up with the iKid” by Josh McHugh talks about how the ways that students process information is a direct result of their environment. Form your own opinions, but share them so that we can discuss and debate whether or not our modes of instruction need to change.
Leigh Ann Sudol
Communications Chair

As a teacher in NY I realize I am one of the last teachers to go back to school, and to those of you who have been back awhile I apologize for what seems to you as a late post.
Every year when I get back into the rhythm of teaching again, I find that I stop for a moment to reflect on the previous year as well as what the summer held. I also look for exciting new things that I can bring to my classroom to enrich my curriculum even further. So I thought I would compile a list of useful or helpful things that I am bringing to my class this year.
Andy Begel’s Kinesthetic Learning Activities
For those of you who didn’t have the opportunity to join us in San Diego for the CS&IT Symposium, one of the standout sessions for me pedagogically was the kinesthetic learning workshop given by Andy Begel. You can also view additional activities developed by the people in the workshop (and many others). I plan to use these both for reference for activities for my own class as well as an inspiration for when I need a lesson for another topic.
Recommended Resources from CSTA
I know, it is redundant to refer you to a CSTA resource from a CSTA resource, but I cannot help myself. I especially plan to use the OO project using Pong that was developed jointly with IBM and CSTA.
The University of Washington’s A Day in the Life video
This video is inspirational, motivational and shows kids (both boys and girls) that CS is not just sitting in front of a computer screen by yourself playing video games.
There are so many other resources available, but this is just a start for now. Keep an eye out for the CSTA repository – a full collection of resources that is being developed for computer science teachers at ALL levels.
Happy New School Year!!!!
Leigh Ann Sudol
Publications Chair

I am a computer science professor, and a mother with elementary school aged kids. I want to create a website with computer science problem solving activities at the K-5 level. Like everybody else in the field, I am worried about the leaky pipeline in CS (and lack of entry into the pipeline to begin with!).
So, I have started working at the elementary school level showing students that computer science is NOT typing, but can be fun, interesting, and worthwhile. I’m especially interested in projects like Tim Bell’s Computer Science Unplugged (unplugged.canterbury.ac.nz), cited in the Appendix of A Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science from CSTA. I’ve also created some projects that I do. For example, to model the concept of algorithmic design, I ask students to stand up and sort themselves (by last name or anything else), then figure out the algorithm that they used to do this (elementary school kids usually use bin sort; middle schoolers usually use selection sort), then we sort by the same key, but use a different algorithm.
To model TCP/IP, I ask a group of students to write a message. Another group tears it up, numbers the parts and writes the destination. A path on the floor shows the connections and nodes and where packets can go. Other students serve as nodes that pass each packet on. When the message gets to the destination, the destination node student puts the packets together to form the message. Other examples include searching algorithms, representing binary numbers, modeling different kinds of data, and compiling code.
I am sure that many of you have lots of activities like this. I would like to collect many ideas in one place to make it easier for others to do. The repository will be for anybody who would like to go to elementary schools in the classroom or after school with a ready to go lesson plan in computer science: teachers, parents, or industry volunteers.
My background: I have worked with teachers on several teacher training projects, as a Principal Investigator and as a technology teacher in others’ projects. I’ve worked with kids doing computer science, technology, and general science at the elementary and middle school level as a PI, as a mom, and as a community volunteer. The programs have been during the school day, in Saturday academies, in summer science camps, and after school — in programs targeted at all students, for minorities, for poor rural students, for poor urban students, and for girls. I have also addressed attrition at the undergraduate level in my own classes attending workshops and reading computer science education literature, incorporating pairs programming, etc. I was an AP reader for computer science this year to get a better idea of high school CS. And, I have two kids whose classes I visit to try out my ideas.
I mention all these because I am not naive in thinking that elementary school teachers would love to be given computer science problems to incorporate into their curriculum, or that even if they did, all problems relating to interest in computer science would be solved. I understand that NCLB, state standards testing, and lack of preparation in computer science are all deterrents to adoption. Still, I would like to see something more than the material that ISTE has developed to support NETS, which is mostly technology-based. I’ve seen these programs make an impact. But it’s too hard for every person to develop ideas and lessons on their own. Ideally, I’d like to use the repository as a basis for larger efforts, including teacher workshops, etc. later on.
So, this is my request: if you have activities that you would like to share, please send me a link or description in email ([email protected]). The activities I have are mostly kinesthetic learning without the use of a computer, but other activities are fine also. If you want to view the site, CSTA will have a link to it in their searchable repository. Or, you may send me email, and I will send you the link once it is live (anticipated January 2007). Thank you!
If you have comments, suggestions, rants, advice, I would love to hear them.
Thank you.
Lynn Lambert, PhD
Associate Professor
Computer Science
Christopher Newport University
Newport News, Va

Upon reaching CSTA’s first birthday, we set out to determine how satisfied our members are with CSTA’s services and member benefits. With help from Michelle Kitaoka from Georgia Tech, we used Survey Monkey to set up an extensive online survey. As a reward for taking the time to complete our survey, we offered an incentive. Every member who completed the survey was entered into a draw for a NavMan 100 Pocket GPS Locator.
And the winner is Joan Wheeler of Jackson Memorial High School in New Jersey!
Joan was one of 634 CSTA members who completed the survey, giving us a total response rate of 16.8%, which is very respectable for an online survey.
Apart from the chance to give away fun stuff, the survey also provided us with information about how our members perceive us, and how we can provide more valuable benefits in future.
One of the most important things that we learned is that we need to do a better job of letting our members know what their benefits are. Although the benefits are listed on the CSTA website and in the welcoming email we send to all new members, many members told us that until they completed the survey, they were not aware of the extensive list of resources and publications they can access. As a result of this feedback, we will be working on new ways to let members know about all of our member benfits.
We also learned that overall, member satisfaction is very high.
86.9% rated the CSTA website as Good-Excellent
79.1% rated the CSTA Voice newsletter as Good-Excellent
69.4% rated the CSTA Advocate blog as Good-Excellent
71.1% rated the relevance of the Advocate blog postings Good-Excellent
We also learned that both awareness of and satisfaction with our JETT/TECS workshops and the annual Computer Science Information Technology (CS&IT) Symposium are very good. A total of 63% of our members have been to a JETT/TECS workshop and 50% plan to participate in future workshops. While only 43% have attended a CS&IT symposium, more than 62% plan to do so in future.
More than half of our members (62.5%), however, have not used the ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science or its accompanying documents, and 89.2% have not used the K-12 Virtual binders, mostly because they were not aware that they even existed! The results are similar for access to the Careers Resource Center
Perhaps the most important thing we learned from this survey, however, is what we can do to make CSTA an even better value for our members. The top five new benefits our members have requested are:
1. more online computer science resources
2. a national conference on K-12 computer science education
3. an online discussion forum
4. classroom posters
5. brochures for students and parents
The good news is that we are currently working on every single one of these right now!

Sometimes it is difficult to know exactly what motivates kids to make the choices that they do, even when it comes to important life decisions such what to do with the rest of their lives. I remember at one point my niece’s life ambition was to be a fire truck. Granted, she was only three years old, but we were worried for a while.
One thing we do know, however, is that students are seriously misinformed about career opportunities in computer science and information technology. The media coverage of the dot bombs and the concerns over outsourcing have convinced many students (and perhaps more importantly their parents) that a computer science education is a fast trip to a professional life as a cab driver.
There is no denying that the cyclical and volatile job market and the national economy continuously reshape the kind and number of jobs that are and will be available. There is also no denying that many families, especially those in Silicon Valley, have been devestated when jobs have moved away or disappeared altogether. No one needs to tell me what this is like. Five generations of my family have worked in the auto industry.
But the fact remains, and this is supported by every economic prognostication we have, that computing is and continues to be one of the best possible areas for a fulfilling and lucrative career. And please, we are not talking here about life in Dilbert-land churning out code. We are talking about being part of every scientific breakthrough that is going to happen in the next century. We are talking about solving real-world problems using the combinatorial and computational sciences. We are talking about an opportunity to do something important, to make a difference.
Whether your students are motivated by the dollar or by the desire to change the world, help them see the connection between your computer science classroom and the world that awaits them. The opportunities are there for those willing get the kind of education they need to succeed.