Must-read (and Share) Report on US K-12 CS Education

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Mark Nelson

They say you can have data without information, but not the other way around. So for those of you seeking data on why CS in K-12 matters there is good news today. There is a new report out from Google and Gallup, which I particularly encourage all of our members in the US to read and share. Whether you are in K-12, higher education, government, or the corporate environment the data and information contained in this report is important. As we head into another school year, it would be great if every school board member, superintendent, principal, parent, and legislative representative read the report as well.

The report is entitled, Searching for Computer Science: Access and Barriers in K-12 Education, and is available as a downloadable PDF here.

In short, the study illustrates that CS education matters, and that there is strong demand for CS education in K-12. Two key barriers identified in the study are that administrators do not perceive that demand, and there is a shortage of teachers to teach CS. The report also has some illuminating data around issues of equity and access. As a whole, the report touches on critical topics we are working on in CSTA now and have even bigger plans for going forward.

Among some of the interesting findings:

91% of parents surveyed want their child to learn Computer Science (CS), but <8% of administrators believe demand is high.
Half of principals and superintendents surveyed cite the lack of trained teachers as a barrier – greater than the need for technology. Less than half of administrators perceive school board support for CS.
3 out of 4 principals surveyed say their school offers NO CS programming/coding classes.
More than 90% of students and parents surveyed believe people who do computer science have the opportunity to work on fun and exciting projects, and that people who do CS make things that help improve people’s lives.

Given that yesterday marked the “two-month mark” for me as the new executive director for the Computer Science Teacher’s Association, this news only reinforces for me that the mission of CSTA — to empower, support, and advocate for K-12 computer science teachers — is a mission that matters.

We can do more. We must do more. CS matters, and we need more support to give all students better access to quality CS education, and ensure that CS teachers across the educational spectrum have access to the PD and resources they need to provide that quality CS education. A great first step is making sure that the findings of this study are communicated and shared widely.

Computer Science in K-8 at the 2015 CSTA conference

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Sheena Vaidyanathan

This summer’s CSTA conference in Grapevine, Texas had far more K-8 sessions than any previous CSTA conference. A simple metric that measures the strong interest in K-8 Computer Science today. A K-8 computer science teacher like myself had a clear K-8 track to follow and I have come away with my head filled with wonderful ideas for my elementary and middle school students. Best PD ever!

Like most conferences, much of the learning is not from the sessions, but from the many conversations over a meal or on the bus ride to the airport or just hanging out and chatting in the corridors. I think it did help that the temperature in July in Texas is about 100 degrees outside – we all stayed indoors and networked!

Some of the stuff I learned (and must explore more) from the sessions and vendor area at the conference include :

Code.org’s many Unplugged activities at https://code.org/curriculum/docs/k-5/complete.pdf
Project GUTS resources for Computer Science in Science for middle school – both block based Starlogo Nova http://projectguts.org/resources as well as text based NetLogo https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/
CS through Making based on ideas from the CS team at Baldwin school http://www.baldwinschool.org/computer-science
Physical computing with Scratch based on excellent work by Dylan Ryder https://sites.google.com/site/handsoncomputingactivities/
The ‘Problem solving’ approach to teaching CS based on session by Stephen Hughes
South Korea’s education system after hearing the amazing keynote from White House CTO advisor Seth Andrew.
The many excellent resources from the vendor area – including Codesters, Pluralsight, Ozobot, CodeSchool, and Google’s many CS education resources including Pencil Code http://pencilcode.net/

For those who missed the CSTA conference, you can experience some of the highlights by going through the Storify of the tweets at

https://storify.com/sheenavaidy/csta-2015-conference

To make sure you do not miss it next year – go ahead and ‘Save the Date’: July 10-12, 2016, in San Diego! I hope to see you there !

The Lessons of HitchBot

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Laura Blankenship

This past week, a story circulated around social media about how HitchBot, a friendly hitchhiking robot met a grisly end here in Philadelphia. When the news hit, all my techie friends rallied and vowed, “We can rebuild him.” Computer Science professors and teachers and a local MakerSpace all agreed to pitch in. Then came news that the demise of HitchBot might not have been true, that the surveillance video was created by a prankster. So no one quite knew what to believe.

Unfortunately, while the video was a fake, the robot was indeed destroyed, and the Canadian researchers who created him ended his journey. The researchers had set out to see if humans would treat robots with kindness. I guess the answer, at least for humans in the US, is no. Research on human-robot interaction is widespread as many futurists and computer scientists believe we’ll be interacting more and more with robots who might be taking on some of our routine tasks. We already have the prospect of self-driving cars on the horizon, and in Japan, they’re researching caregiving robots. It makes sense to figure out how to create robots in ways that we will want to interact with them productively and not, as in HitchBot’s case, destroy them.

To me, there are two lessons to take from the HitchBot story. One is that humans might treat robots just like humans, which is to say, we aren’t always kind and can be downright violent. The second lesson is that it pays to do some research on news stories. It was honestly really hard to tell what the real story was for many days. First, everyone thought it was real, then everyone thought it was fake and that the robot never existed, and then a clearer picture emerged that was more complex than the original story indicated. Social media often amplifies untruths and correcting a story might take a long time, if it happens at all. So before you click through to the story, check your sources. If it seems crazy, it probably is. And if you see a robot hitchhiking along the side of the road or resting on a park bench, give her a ride. You’ll be improving human-robot relations.

We’d love to see more student-developed apps like NeverLost

Image

A child goes for a walk in the nearby forest… all of a sudden she realizes that she has lost her way. How can she alert her guardian that she may be in danger, especially when she has a mental handicap? A challenging situation no doubt, calling for a practical solution… which came in the form of the “NeverLost” app, designed and coded by a group of students from four collaborating schools in Corfu, Greece.

As the website is in Greek only, I will attempt here to present an overview of their work.

The four schools met and got down to work on their first task: to roll out a plan. Here are the steps:

Investigate application requirements.
Carry out market research to explore the competition in apps designed for kids.
Design functions.
Delegate tasks to the individual schools.
Code app in App Inventor.
Design app in Photoshop.
Transfer design to App Inventor.
Publish app in Google Play Store.
Design and develop webpage.

Next they decided which school would be responsible for each stage of the plan; “Kato Korakiana Vocational High School” would work on the design of the app and the webpage, and Amfipagites Middle School, the 2nd General High School and the 4th General High School of Corfu would collaborate on developing the app and writing the code in App Inventor.

They concluded that the app should include six functions:

Make phone call (e.g. dad, mom, guardian)
Send message (e.g. dad, mom, guardian)
View your location on map
SMS your location (Latitude and Longitude coordinates)
SMS your location on map
Settings (assign phone number to receive calls and messages)

Finally, they decided that a short video would help explain the concept to potential users, so they filmed a “trailer” for their app.

The project was presented with great success at a Computer Science Teachers Conference in Northern Greece and received wide appraisal in the national press and the Internet. Μore information is available on their Facebook page or directly by email: scroll to the bottom of their webpage for details (I have checked that their admins are eager to answer questions and provide info in English).

We would really love to see more great projects like this: the students and teachers involved deserve all the credit in the world for their social awareness, teamwork abilities, app market savvy and competitive design skills. Keep an eye out for this year’s video competition of the CSTA Equity Committee themed around Computing for the Common Good: dates and guidelines to be announced soon!

Mina Theofilatou
CSTA International Representative
Kefalonia, Greece

What do students think about coding?

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Sheena Vaidyanathan

What does assessment look like in a K-8 Computer Science program? Computer science teachers like myself use various methods to determine learning amongst their students, examples include: a debug activity, some version of ‘get the robot through the maze in N programming blocks’ or a rubric to assess different components of a Scratch project.

In addition to problem solving and programming skills, I also assess my student’s attitude to computer science. Through the year, I use anonymous SurveyMonkey surveys, Google forms, Edmodo questions, and writing prompts to determine what student think about their learning and about coding.

Since I teach across the Los Altos school district (over 500 students each week), I have a wealth of data to analyze after each survey. My survey question at the end of this school year was ‘ What do you think about coding? What would you tell someone to convince them that they should learn to code? ‘.

This question generated a wide variety of responses. Here are some that seem to have a common theme – can you detect it?

I think it’s difficult, but still interesting.
It was fun yet challenging.
It is kind of difficult to learn at first, but then is fun to play with
Coding is hard in the beginning but fun once you learn how.
It is fun but hard and boring.
Coding is fun but hard. If you want to design or make something coding is for you.
Coding is hard but interesting.
Love it, and makes your brain work hard while you have tons of fun.
I think coding is fun but can be difficult.
I liked coding. It was challenging though.
I think coding is very interesting and challenging. The feeling of success when you finish a project is all worth the trouble.
Coding is complicated but fun. People think it’s scary because it’s new but it’s actually really cool!

The common theme is: ‘difficult but fun’.

These students find coding fun even though it is difficult. In fact, they think it is fun because it is hard. They enjoy coding for the same reason they enjoy a good video game – it is challenging. It is not easy and boring.

Seymour Papert who showed us that children can program computers almost 40 years ago, explained this kind of learning as ‘Hard fun’ in his article http://www.papert.org/articles/HardFun.html

It appears that my sixth grade students agree with the student Papert mentions in his article. Coding is fun and it is hard. Much has changed in terms of tools and resources in the last 40 years, and it is good to know that this fundamental attitude remains the same.

CSTA Professional Development Committee

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Dave Reed

The Professional Development Committee’s purpose is to improve teaching and learning in the computing disciplines by identifying the ongoing professional development needs of members; by developing, facilitating, and overseeing the professional development activities of the organization; and by building partnerships with other organizations that support CSTA’s mission and goals.

Specific initiatives include:

Encouraging networking and resource sharing opportunities for members.
Building upon the success of the CSTA Annual Conference to provide more professional development opportunities for members.
Developing and disseminating materials and providing support for local, chapter-driven professional development.
Expanding the presence of the CSTA, especially board members, at regional and national conferences.

The current members of the committee are Dave Reed (chair), Myra Deister, Irene Lee, and Fran Trees.

Dave Reed
Chair, Professional Development Committee

Did You Miss It?

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Myra Deister

Miss what you ask? Why the CSTA Webinar presented by Beth Ziesenis, Nerdy Best Friend, on May 12, of course!

A special invitation was emailed to you on May 1. I opened the email and registered for it immediately! I wanted to know about apps that would help organize my life.

I was prepared to view it at school on May 12 and would you believe it, the school network decided on that very day to slow down to a crawl and I was unable to view the webinar. Never fear. I received another email that announced that it has been recorded. You can access the webinar at http://csta.acm.org/Communications/sub/Podcasts.html.

I viewed the recording and took notes about her suggestions. Some of the apps I plan to try out are listed below.

An app to control my email called 10 minute email. It is an email address that lasts 10 minutes so you can use it to sign-up for information that you only want one time. You can find it at: 10minuteemail.com

Create graphics using Canva. You can use it to create posters. I hope to have my student groups next year create a posters containing graphics to help the other students understand computer science vocabulary. This might be a great way to do it.

Utility: Is the problem with my school network or it is a problem for everyone. I can check that with downforeveryoneorjustme.com . I am sure I will be trying it out at school shortly.

Video post cards: I saw this demonstrated and I immediately thought Open House next school year – perfect. I will video a few of my students this year and have them introduce the class to the parents. The app she suggested was PicPlayPost. You can get it from Google Playstore: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flambestudios.picplaypost&hl=en or

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/picplaypost/id498127541?mt=8

Want to stay ahead of your students with tech? Then Product Hunt is for you. It is a Reddit for new software and apps. You can view it at http://www.producthunt.com/

The last app I plan on trying out is Office Lens. You can take a picture of a document, business card or whiteboard and the app will straighten it out and upload it to Microsoft OneNote. You can do your own edits because the app runs it through OCR.

These are the apps that I selected from the webinar that I want to try out. You should view the webinar to determine if there are other apps you might like to try out.

Beth also set up a Google Form to crowdsource apps. If you know of apps that are your favorites you can add them to the Google Sheet using the Google Form at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1LmQ1NI0uWIO021kFDVnysSz9kgnIDg5Jc52jr2N65Pk/viewform

You can view the apps that CSTA members have suggested at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K4IHUOmbpGZawUPxfMepE3z_1063LibAPjuF_YFgQ10/edit?usp=sharing

I want to hear from you about your thoughts regarding the webinar or apps that I have selected.

Myra Deister
CSTA At-Large Representative

Study Confirms Critical Need for Computer Science Evaluation Tools

Posted on July 13, 2015 by admin

A recent study released by the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) highlights the need for valid and reliable source assessment of student learning and calls upon the computer science education community to assist in the development of more and better assessment tools and strategies.

Sowing the Seeds of Assessment Literacy in Secondary Computer Science Education details the results of a landscape study aimed at determining the challenges US high school teachers face when examining student understanding of computing concepts and to identify current models for computer science (CS) assessment. The study, supported by Google, was conducted by the CSTA Assessment Task Force chaired by Aman Yadav, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State University. The study took place over a year and involved in-depth interviews with computer science practitioners with a wide range of teaching experience.

The study concluded that while computer science teachers use a variety of formative and summative assessment techniques and rely on an assortment of sources (test banks, colleagues, even their own undergraduate CS courses), they face a number of challenges finding valid and reliable assessments to use in their classrooms. Many participants also noted that the potential for variability in how students approach and develop algorithms makes assessment especially challenging and time-consuming.

Among the report’s recommendations, the CSTA Assessment Task Force suggests the following next steps for the CS Ed community:

Develop valid and reliable assessments aligned to the CSTA K–12 Computer Science Standards.
Develop valid and reliable formative and summative assessments for programming languages beyond Java, such as Python, C#, etc.
Develop an online repository of assessment items for K–12 computer science teachers.
Develop a community of practice surrounding the use of assessment in computer science classrooms.
Design and deliver professional development to increase K–12 computer science teachers’ assessment literacy.

The chair of the CSTA Assessment Task Force, Aman Yadav, highlighted the importance of the study, stating: “During our in-depth interviews with the teachers, we found that teachers are very resourceful in using a hodgepodge of resources (test-banks, rubrics, etc.) and lean on their peers to come up with assessments that examine student understanding in their classrooms. But, there is a dearth of formative and summative assessments, especially for non-AP courses, that are easy accessible and categorized by grade level, concept, difficulty, programming language, etc. The Task Force is now working with the CSTA Board to launch a new project to create a repository of assessment resources that teachers can access to meet their needs.”

CSTA hopes that this study will focus the computer science education community’s attention on the importance of valid assessment of student learning and the pressing need for better and more computer science assessment tools and strategies.

Download the official press release here.

Download the PDF of the study here.

PRESS RELEASE: ACM, CSTA Announce New Award to Recognize US High School Students in Computing

Posted on June 17, 2015 by admin

Gordon Bell and David Cutler Establish $1 Million Endowment to Fund Award

NEW YORK, June 17, 2015– ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, and CSTA, the Computer Science Teachers Association, today announced a new award, the ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing, to recognize talented high school students in computer science. The program seeks to promote and encourage the field of computer science, as well as to empower young and aspiring learners to pursue computing challenges outside of the traditional classroom environment.

“This new award touches on several areas central to ACM’s mission,” said ACM President Alexander L Wolf. “Chief among these are to foster technological innovation and excellence, in this case, by bringing the excitement of invention to students at a time in their lives when they begin to make decisions about higher education and career possibilities.”

Four winners will be selected annually and each will be awarded a $10,000 prize and cost of travel to the annual ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing Reception where students will demonstrate their programs and discuss their work. The prizes will be funded by a $1 million endowment established by David Cutler and Gordon Bell. Cutler is a software engineer, designer and developer of several operating systems including Windows NT at Microsoft and RSX-11M, VMS and VAXELN at Digital Equipment Corporation. He is Senior Technical Fellow at Microsoft. Bell is an electrical engineer and an early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation where he led the development of VAX. He is now a researcher emeritus at Microsoft Research.

“David and I are delighted to endow this new award to recognize, encourage and reward high school students in computing,” said Gordon Bell. “We hope that it proves to help students discover computer science and how empowering computing can be.”

Eligible applicants for the award will include graduating high school seniors residing and attending school in the US. Challenges for the award will focus on developing an artifact that engages modern computing technology and computer science. Judges will look for submissions that demonstrate ingenuity, complexity, relevancy, originality, and a desire to further computer science as a discipline.

The application period for the inaugural award is scheduled to open August 1, 2015 and close January 1, 2016. The inaugural awards will be announced in February 2016.

“Hello, World!”

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Mark Nelson

A simple phrase known to perhaps every computer science teacher and student today. Two words that can say so much. Translated across many languages (human and computer), the phrase is a universal starter when learning something new.

A Mission That Matters.

In today’s world the need for us all to keep learning something new has moved beyond nicety to necessity. Analytics, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Everything, and other outgrowths of computing will continue to accelerate the pace of knowledge creation and societal change across the globe. Computational technology is increasingly ubiquitous, and yet few people understand what goes on inside the black box. Computers remain mysterious to many, and technology advances so quickly today that even those of us comfortable with technology can become overwhelmed by keeping up.

Computer Science is emerging as the lingua franca of the evolving world. However, Code.org reports that the percent of students graduating with a degree in computer science is less today than a decade ago. At the same time, Crain’s New York Business observed that fewer than one in eight public schools in New York City have a computer science teacher. As Jane Margolis argues in her research, access to this universal language is fundamental to future prosperity and participation in society.

The imperative for stronger educational opportunities and access in the computing disciplines continues to grow. Making that access happen requires many other things to happen as well. High on that list are meaningful and standards-based education and credentialing for teachers, making Computer Science count toward graduation, and establishing economically sustainable models to maintain and grow the quality of educational opportunities in computer science for both teachers and students.

Who am I?

My name is Dr. Mark R. Nelson. I am excited and honored to be joining CSTA’s leadership team as its new Executive Director in a few weeks. I am looking forward to getting to know the community, and as you may discern from the opening above, I believe CSTA has a mission that matters and that together we can positively affect the lives of many teachers and students. As a very mission-driven individual, that inspires me.

On a personal level, I am 46. I have an alphabet soup of credentials behind my name that reflect an ongoing passion for learning and education. My Myers-Briggs type would place me as a strong INTJ. Those who know me often use the words “thought leader, relationship builder, strategist, collaborative, and creative” to describe me. Most also comment on my penchant to blend academic theory and practical experience when problem solving. I enjoy the analytical process of finding meaningful stories in a set of data, and the socially creative process of collaborative problem solving.

A Future Vision.

While I have a vision for CSTA’s future, I am cognizant of the fact that I am new to the community. Thus, over the next few months, I am looking to hear from many of you regarding your vision for CSTA. Together we must unify around a clear articulation of who CSTA is as a community and how we build upon our prior successes to make lasting, sustainable, positive, and meaningful impact for our members and society.

As an association, CSTA is entering its second decade – the teen years. The organization has benefited from terrific leadership and experienced impressive growth over the past decade. However, there is more to be done and we must continue to evolve. This may mean re-evaluating some practices and policies, and finding new ways to enable engagement for all members of the CSTA community.

I am grateful to be joining a community where, like Seussian Whos, there is a fantastic story to be told and tell it we must. I am eager to hear more of that story, and share it with others. Please join us in July at our meeting in Dallas, as we learn something new, build relationships, and share stories.

Finally, a personal note of thanks to the search committee for their hard work, and to Lissa Clayborn, both for her substantive contributions as Acting Executive Director and for taking on the role of Deputy Executive Director and COO for CSTA. We have complementary skills and a shared belief in the potential for CSTA to fulfill its mission.

Having gone on too long, I will end my introduction as I began, with two simple words that can say so much: “Hello, World!”