CS Ed Week Promotion in Your City

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Tammy Pirmann

The Philadelphia skyline is sporting a bright promotion of CS Ed Week thanks to the efforts of CSTA Philly founding member, Mary-Angela Papalaskari and Villanova University. The PECO building has a scrolling light crown that often draws attention to worthy events in and around the city.

The PECO website has a page devoted to the crown lights and how to request a message. Mary-Angela submitted the request many weeks ago in preparation for CS Ed Week. PECO informed her in October that the request was approved and would be the crown lights message for the beginning of this week! Here is a 30 second video of the scrolling message that is currently visible all over the city:

This is a great idea if you live or work near a city. Many cities have a building with crown lights, just give yourself plenty of time to negotiate the request process and follow all the rules to get your own message up in lights!

Tammy Pirmann
District Representative, CSTA Board of Directors

Winners of Faces of Computing Contest

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Laura Blankenship

The Faces of Computing Video Contest was a big success. We had over 100 entries from 20 states and 6 countries. The idea behind the Faces of Computing Contest, both the previous poster contest and the video contest, is to represent a greaer variety of people doing computing and to dispel myths about what computing is and who can do it. Too often in industry and in people’s minds, the “faces of computing” are white and male. The posters and videos submitted by these students show that all kinds of people enjoy computing.

The videos showcase students not only with different ethnic backgrounds represented, but also students with a wide variety of other interests in addition to Computer Science, It’s clear that CS appeals to many kinds of kids. In the videos, there are artists and athletes, writers and math geeks, and budding computer scientists. The students show that Computer Science really is for everyone and can be useful in a variety of fields.

The winners were hard to choose, as there were so many great entries! I loved getting to see what other schools do in Computer Science class and hearing students talk about their CS work and their other interests. Below are the winners’ videos. They are really great promotions for CS. I highly recommend showing them to your classes, to your administrators, whomever you think needs a little nudge to see CS in a different light.

Winner, High School Division

Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science
Teacher: Angela Taricco
Students: Josephine Bowen, Sarah Duquette, Jackie Forson, Ana Khovanskaya, Eva Moynihan, Amol Punjabi, Sashrika Saini, Christopher Thorne, Ryan Vereque

Winner, Middle School Division

AL-IKHLAS
Teacher: Idrus Tamam
Students: Uluwiyah Jatim

Winner, Elementary School Division

Hale Kula Elementary School
Teacher: Megan Cummings
Students: Kaylee Smith, Markus Langhammer-Kenan, Kaleah Shabazz, Haylee Barlow, Natalie Chastain

Fan Letter to Computer Science Teachers: You are the Coding Heroes

Posted on December 4, 2014 by admin

Posted on behalf of Elizabeth Vandenburg, GEMS Public Outreach Director and Founder of GEMS-Nova Labs Girl Makers.

As we prepare for next week’s Computer Science Education Week as well as the “Hour of Code” initiative, Girls Excelling in Math & Science (GEMS) thanks YOU, the computer science teachers who are walking the walk every day, teaching and motivating students to pursue computer science. GEMS particularly thanks you for creating inclusive girl-friendly computer science classrooms.

Like Computer Science Teachers Association, GEMS is a NCWIT K-12 Alliance member, using and seeing results from research-based strategies to reach an important goal for gender equity in tech, “50/50 by 2020.”

I’ve heard hundreds of great stories about what teachers do to support girls and tech. One teacher, Laura Reasoner Jones, who -founded GEMS, ran a STEM after school club in Northern Virginia for 20 years. She plastered her walls with posters of female role models. One day, a 4^th grader named Maria, who ate her lunch every day with Jones, turned to the “Expect the Best From a Girl and That’s What You’ll Get” poster behind her and asked, “Do you really believe that?” When Jones replied an empathic yes, Maria stood taller. “I could tell she felt differently about herself, “ said Jones.

sphero photo

So here’s a GEMS challenge for your CSEdWeek/Hour of Code event: Tweet a photo of your girls participating during the week of December 8-14 and tag with @GirlsExcelling // #CSEdWeek. Photo ideas include girls (and boys!) holding up posters of female role models, pictures of girls’ actual STEM work, or girls participating in an Hour of Code/CSEdWeek activity. Please remember to obtain consent from your students’ legal guardian(s) prior to posting pictures.

Should you require a poster for this challenge, or just to stimulate thinking in your classroom, Code.org offers two promotional posters featuring women. Everyone who participates will be entered into a drawing for a Sphero 10 pack for your classroom!

Next week’s activities are important for the growth of computer science education, but make no mistake, your daily work is where the change happens.

ECEP Alliance: Measuring CS Education progress in US states

Posted on December 3, 2014 by admin

Posted by CSTA on behalf of The Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance

The Expanding Computing Education Pathways alliance (http://ecepalliance.org) is an NSF-funded alliance to broaden participation in computing. Our focus is on the education pathways (from elementary through high school, to community college and universities), because that’s our best chance to reach underserved populations. Our challenge is that education policies vary dramatically from state-to-state, so we can’t come up with one solution that works for everybody. A model that we promote for getting started in a state is:

Step 1: Find a leader(s): You need a leader (or a couple) who will take the initiative and who see(s) the big picture of how schools, higher education, businesses, and state politics have to work together to make change within a state.
Step 2: Understand your state’s policies: Who makes the decisions in your state about high school graduation requirements, teacher certification, and high school curricula? Where does computing fit within your state’s policies? Think about writing a landscape report that lays out the current state of computing education within your state. (There are several of these available at the CSTA website, such as one from South Carolina and another on Maryland.)
Step 3: Gather your allies: Efforts that speak with multiple voices from different sectors promoting computing education tend to get more influence in state government. Computing education summits are where you meet face-to-face, to talk about shared goals and come up with strategies that all the allies can work on.
Step 4: Get initial funding: Landscape reports, summits, and other meetings take some small pots of funding to get you started, before the big ticket items, like professional learning opportunities for all your high school teachers.

If every state has different policies, how do we measure progress? How can we tell that things are getting better, or which states are moving ahead and faster than others? Every year, Barbara Ericson of ECEP collates the College Board data on who took the Advanced Placement® Computer Science (AP CS) exam. Data on AP CS doesn’t cover all computing education in a state, but it’s likely a close measure and it gives us a way of comparing progress in states. The College Board doesn’t know how many AP CS teachers there are, but does track how many schools pass the audit which allows them to offer AP CS. Most schools that pass the audit have exactly one teacher, so counting schools that pass the audit is a rough count of AP CS teachers.

Barbara’s analysis of AP CS A in 2013 (available here) got a lot of press coverage, including the New York Times, CNN, Slate, and Washington Post (see a list here). Barbara has a preliminary set of results available now on the 2014 data (her analysis and data are available here). Here are some of the national highlights:

The number of AP CS exam takers rose 26.29% in 2014 (from 29,444 to 37,327).
The number of schools passing the audit rose a little over 10% (from 2,252 to 2,525). The big difference in those two statistics (27% more test-takers, only 10% more teachers) means that each teacher is getting more students to take the AP CS exam.
Women, Black (the College Board’s category), and Hispanic exam takers all increased about 35%. That’s faster than the overall exam taker growth at 27%, but just barely. In 2013, 18.5% of exam takers were female. In 2014, 20.0% of exam takers were female.
A smaller percentage of students passed (from 66.86% to 61% overall), and that was true within demographic groups, too. 62% of female exam takers passed in 2013, but only 57% this year. A drop in pass rates is not too unexpected if we are getting more students into the exam, especially if new students are coming from schools and teachers new to teaching AP CS.

When we get to the individual states, the picture is more complex, but is still striking in terms of how little AP CS there is yet in some states.

18 states had less than 100 people total take the AP CS exam in 2014. Montana had only 4 exam takers (all male). Mississippi also had four exam takers (one female), and though the state is 38% Black, they had no Black AP CS exam takers. Wyoming didn’t have a single AP CS exam-taker in 2013 or 2014.
California leads the nation in number of AP CS exam takers and had the biggest gain in exam taking, with a 34% increase from 2013 to 2014. Florida jumped from 8th in the US to 4th with a 39%. Maryland had surprisingly little growth from 2013 (from 1629 students in 2013 to 1639 in 2014) and dropped from 5th to 8th.
California is also the most populous state. Maryland has the most exam takers for its population, followed by Virginia and New Jersey.
We are nowhere near gender-balance in AP CS exam taking. With 1/4 (25%), Mississippi has the highest percentage of females taking the AP CS exam. The next three top states are Washington (260/1048 = 25%), Oklahoma (42/171 = 25%), and Texas (1102/4551 = 24%). The states with the least female participation in AP CS exam-taking are Montana (0/4), Wyoming (0/0), Mississippi (1/4), North Dakota (1/14), Nebraska (2/71), Kansas (3/40), Alaska (4/30), South Dakota (4/29), Utah (5/104), and Delaware (7/79).
Barbara is still going through the race data, but even the bright spots still aren’t that bright. Maryland had the most Black exam takers (192) with a 30% pass rate, which means that 12% of their exam takers were Black. 30% of Maryland’s population is Black. Texas was second (161 exam takers, 40% pass rate), which is 4% Black exam takers in a state that is 12% Black.

These results are positive in terms of growth, but we have a long way to go. AP CS is smaller and more gender-skewed than any other AP exam (see Brian Danielak’s insightful visualization here). We use AP CS as a measure for CS education in the United States overall. Computer science in high schools is rare, mostly male, and mostly white or Asian. That’s what we’re trying to fix.

Inviting all “CS in K-8” Enthusiasts

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Sheena Vaidyanathan

So much has changed in the last five years since I started teaching programming to 6th graders in my district. At that time, it was considered outright strange for a public school district anywhere. Today, some large school districts like Chicago have added computer science (CS) to their curriculum, and entire countries are adding a required computer science class in the K-12 curriculum.

‘Why Should Fifth Graders Learn to Program?’ is an article I wrote in 2011 to help answer the question of why we must introduce CS in the early years. Today, that question has been answered many times over and in response we are flooded with resources from a wide range of “coding in K-8” experts.

Most K-8 CS teachers are not dedicated CS teachers, but classroom teachers or technology specialists who are “CS in K-8” enthusiasts. They find time to integrate CS into the curriculum or carve out a special class to add to the busy school day. These teachers are now deluged with the many ways to do what they love to do – bring the excitement of CS to all their students. How can they wade through this flood of resources to find the one that fits their needs, the one that is right for their class, the one that reflects their unique teaching style, or the one with the research or pedagogy piece they want? Maybe they want a tool that offers a blended solution, or one that maximizes creativity?

With every new tool or resource that comes my way, I rush into an excited experimentation mode to see if I can use it. In my role as the district’s computer science integration specialist, I must do this research but not every teacher has the time. Often, even after my trying out the new tool, I am not ready to test it on my students. I really need is to just ask someone, Did it work in your class?

That is why I need a community of K-8 CS teachers where I can connect and ask these questions. What tool did you use for your second graders? How do you move from visual programming to text based coding and when? How did you convince your administration that the CS department should expand from its current size of one? What do you do with that kid who thinks they will never be able to code or the kid who thinks he should start with Java in third grade?. What are you doing to celebrate Computer Science education week?

I remember my excitement when I first found this CS teachers community at my first Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) conference. Since then, I have benefitted from connecting with these teachers by email or Twitter. I now carefully mark the conference on my calendar each year so I can meet more of these teachers in person. For those who have never attended, it is a must attend event for any CS teacher. Save the date – the next CSTA conference is July 13-14, 2015.

However, the conference is only once a year, and the questions and teacher community support is needed through the year. In addition to the CSTA local chapters, mailing lists, and Twitter, there is now an additional way to connect to this community at any time: a new Google+ community set up by CSTA for K-8 teachers.

As a K-8 teacher who has learned from this community and in my role as the new K-8 Rep for CSTA, I invite all “CS in K-8” enthusiasts to become a CSTA member as well as join the Google+ CSTA K-8 community. Introduce yourself, share a resource that worked for you, post a favorite student project, and ask those questions. You will be welcome. I hope to see you online!

Sheena Vaidyanathan
6th Grade Computer Science Teacher
Los Altos School District
CSTA Board Rep for K-8

Tales from the Recruiting Desk…

Posted on December 1, 2014 by admin

Submitted by Mindy Hart, Purdue University

I’ve been around K-12 education all my life. I come from a long line of teachers, I was a teacher, I’ve taught teachers how to teach, and now I’m on the hunt for students who want to be teachers (among other technology-rich positions.) In my roles, I’ve taught computer science and spread the passion, beauty, joy, and awe of computing to teachers and students alike. But now, my mission as a recruiter for the College of Technology at Purdue University is to recruit students into career paths that will be fulfilling to them. And I tell you what… it isn’t easy. You would think that the prevalence of jobs and the upswing in media coverage regarding technology-based careers would allow academic programs the luxury of sitting back with open arms, ready to bring the masses into the fold. However, that is not happening. If it were that easy, I’d probably run myself out of a job.

But here is what I do see… I see students who are looking to find a career in something they already like to do. I see students who gravitate toward what they know and with which they have had an encounter. I see students who make their career choices because of what their parents do. I see students who make career choices because of what their peers do. I see students value the input of adults in their lives- but mostly with constant and consistent forward propelling messages.

So what does that have to do with us? A lot. The biggest recruiting tool I’ve seen to date when a student is considering a career choice is the valued input and encouragement from adults and peers. As a recruiter, I can sell the praises of a particular program for hours- telling all about student success stories, potential earnings, and companies who hire and their respective cultures, but it doesn’t matter if there is no experience to back it up. Students are seldom going to choose something they have not had exposure to or that their parents/adult mentors do not understand. That’s where we come in. Not only do we need to create those experiences for students to explore computer science at all ages, we really need to create those opportunities for the parents and adult mentors to explore it also. Let’s work to educate EVERYONE about the power of computer science and technology. Let’s create those experiences for students and parents alike. And let’s capture the stories of those parents who are currently in the field and ask them what they love about what they do and how they plan to encourage their children and others to consider these careers. Then we can truly make an impact on the number of students considering pathways into computer science and other technology fields.

Giving Thanks

Posted on November 27, 2014 by admin

Today in the United States is one of our national holidays, Thanksgiving. As part of my family’s tradition, we each share what we are thankful for. As I have been reflecting on all the wonderful blessings in my life, one that doesn’t get said often enough is my thankfulness for our members, and especially those who are our tireless volunteers.

Our members spend their days and nights helping educate K-12 students around the world in the joys of computer science. Being an educator is not a 9-5 job, it is comprised of long hours teaching, preparing lessons, parent/teacher meetings, planning meetings with administrators and co-workers, obtaining professional development, and reflecting on lessons learned inside and outside of the classroom. Educators are amazingly dedicated people, who put their hearts into sharing the subjects they love with today’s youth. There are no words of thanks passionate enough to say how deeply I appreciate what each and every one of you contributes to education and learning. You are incredible!

Those educators who volunteer for the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) deserve even more of my thanks. You are unflagging in your dedication to the organization, the work we do, and to make sure that each and every student who wants to learn about computer science is given the chance. You spend hundreds of hours each year making CSTA a vibrant, relevant organization. You help bring new resources and opportunities to all our members around the globe. All of this is on top of your day jobs, daily lives, and the other demands on your time. I, for one, know that without you, CSTA would not be the success it is today. So, from the bottom of my heart, my thanks to each of you for dedicating your time, enthusiasm, and passion to CSTA, for without you, there would be no CSTA.

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, or even if you don’t, I hope you too get the chance to reflect on the blessings in your life and know that the CSTA staff is deeply grateful to have you not only in the organization, but also educating our youth.

Gratefully yours,

Lissa Clayborn
Acting Executive Director
Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA)

CS Ed Week != Hour of Code

Image

With the fabulous success of Hour of Code last year, I think many of us have fallen into thinking that Computer Science Education Week (CS Ed Week) is “Hour of Code week.”

As in, “What are you doing for Hour of Code?”… I actually heard myself saying that to someone.

But of course CS Ed Week is much more than introducing your students to a coding lesson.

Teachers who I know are: showcasing their students’ project work, organizing a hackathon to benefit a charitable organization, sharing their year-long curricula with parents and colleagues, and screening films about famous computer scientists.

By the way, did you know that CS Ed Week is the week that it is because Grace Hopper was born on December 9 (1906)? I just learned this.

At my university, it’s finals week. So my students will be taking finals in my two computing courses. (This seems to happen every year.) But in the prior week, they’ll be showing off their final projects to the whole department!

For more resources and ideas, go to csedweek.org/csteacher to download a “Participation Kit for Computer Science Teachers” and list your activities on an international map.

So… “What are you doing for Computer Science Education Week?”

P.S. The languages I’m using most at the moment are Scheme and App Inventor. Below is this post’s title in those languages. Both evaluate to true.

Scheme / Racket / Lisp
(not (equal? 'cs-ed-week 'hour-of-code))

MIT App Inventor

The Wonderful World of Wikimedia

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Mina Theofilatou

Let’s face it: Wikipedia may still be lacking in academic credibility, but that hasn’t stopped us from resorting to the world’s free online encyclopedia time and time again when we need quick facts on a new concept.

What many people don’t know is that Wikipedia is only one of a total of fifteen projects under the Wikimedia Foundation “umbrella,” and which absolutely anyone can edit. In learning communities, teachers and students are encouraged to introduce Wikipedia editing to the learning process: there are a number of Wikipedia Education Programs involving schools and universities all over the world, with impressive results.

But what’s in it for students? Being a Wikipedia editor offers students a multitude of benefits:

Writing a Wikipedia article helps students develop their skills in spelling, vocabulary and grammar.
Properly referencing a Wikipedia article can be challenging: citations are necessary for even the simplest of articles (known to the Wikipedia community as “stubs”). This means that students need to learn how to identify valid sources, undoubtedly a useful skill for essay-writing.
You don’t need an account to edit Wikipedia, but if you do open an account you will soon find that you are a member of an exciting, multicultural community that values learning and volunteering. Editors are not paid for their work; what drives them is their passion for sharing knowledge.
Assignments don’t end up merely taking up space on a school shelf or hard disk: on Wikipedia they are dynamic content that can be expanded, translated, enhanced with multimedia etc. in spiraling progress… they may even have a chance at being nominated as featured articles!
A Wikipedia editor can proudly share the content he has created on social media, or monitor the popularity of the article she started or edited by viewing its statistics page (click the “View History” tab of an article and then “Page View Statistics”). She may be surprised by how many people found the article useful!
And much, much more…

What’s in it, especially for Computer Science students?

Using Wiki markup is an excellent introductory “exercise” to learning HTML (so long as you don’t opt-in to the Visual Editor). HTML is also used in wikitext: see the special “how-to” article here.
Wikimedia Commons – the Wikimedia Foundation’s multimedia repository – is a perfect place for aspiring computer scientists to share photos and/or videos of computer hardware, source code etc. and enhance Computer Science articles by introducing links to their files (provided they are willing to share their work under a proper license)
Girls interested in pursuing a career in Computer Science may be excited to find out that Wikipedia has an article titled “Women in Computing,” with ever-growing content that they can browse and edit. In fact, numerous Wikipedia “editathons” were held all over the world to celebrate Ada Lovelace day last year. Writing a new article (or expanding an existing one) on a notable woman computer scientist is a great way to draw inspiration and contribute to the available online knowledge on women in STEM.

I have been using Wikipedia and Wikimedia editing in the classroom since 2007, and my students have contributed to over 50 articles on Wikipedia and uploaded over 200 files to Commons. It is a rich experience, which earned us a significant distinction at a European STEM conference: “Why the High School Student Became a Wikipedia Editor” won first prize in the 1^st Scientix poster competition in Brussels, Belgium. We have worked on Greek Wikipedia, started two galleries on Wikimedia Commons and this year we’re adding local dialect words to Greek Wiktionary. If you decide to enter the wonderful world of Wikimedia and need guidance/inspiration, don’t hesitate to visit my user page and drop me a line!

Mina Theofilatou
CSTA International Representative
Kefalonia, Greece

Call for Nominations: Announcing CSTA Board of Directors Elections

Posted on November 19, 2014 by admin

Application Deadline: February 1, 2015 (midnight PST)

Term of Service: June 2015-2017

The following CSTA Director positions will be vacated on May 31, 2015. We encourage interested CSTA members to apply or to encourage other qualified members to submit an application. Late nominations will not be accepted.

The CSTA Board is a working Board. All Directors are required to attend two face-to-face Board meetings per year (including the combined Board Meeting and CSTA Conference on July 12-17, 2015) and are expected to contribute meaningfully by participating on at least two committees. Directors are required to participate in the following Board events in Grapevine, Texas:

July 12, 2015: New Board Member Orientation
July 13-14, 2015: CSTA Annual Conference
July 15, 2015 CSTA Committee Meetings
July 16-17, 2015: Full Board meeting

Vacancies:

K-8 Representative (1 position): a classroom teacher who is currently teaching or promoting computer science at the pre-high school level.
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.

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. The Nominations and Elections Committee of the CSTA Board will select the two best-qualified applicants in each position for inclusion on the ballot.

Nominations deadline: February 1, 2015.

How to submit your application

1. Download the 2015 CSTA Nominations Form at http://csta.acm.org/About/sub/AboutFiles/2015Election.html.

2. Complete the Nominations Form.

The form includes the following information:

Position for which you are applying
Your Name
Address
School or Employer
Current Title/Role
Email Address
Phone Number
Personal Statement that explains your motivation and why you are a strong candidate (limited to 130 words).
Answers to the following four questions (no more than 100 words each):
What experiences and/or interests in K-12 computer science/information technology education qualify you to serve as a leader for the organization?
What previous experience do you have with CSTA?
What leadership skills do you have that would enrich the Board and the organization?
What do you think are the most important issues for K-12 computer science education?

3. Submit the completed Nominations Form and your current résumé of experience to the Elections Committee by emailing them to nominations@csta.acm.org. The documents may be submitted in Microsoft Word or PDF format; PDF is preferred.

Each candidate’s personal statement and answers to the four questions 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.

Ballot distribution: The election will take place online, beginning April 2, 2015. All CSTA members in good standing will be eligible to vote.

Voting deadline: The election will close May 4, 2015.

Election results: Results will be posted by May 15, 2015.

Please send election related questions to:

Deborah Seehorn, Nominations and Elections Committee Chair, nominations@csta.acm.org