Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2015 V45 No 1 | Page 35
to scaffold this learning and ensure all students have access and are well-prepared for
these possibilities.
Teachers across disciplines can build on
student interest in technology by allowing
students to design technical solutions to
problems in science, math, social studies,
the arts and literacy. An understanding of
computer science can make courses in these
subjects more relevant for youth, potentially
improving their engagement and achievement in all areas. And, early exposure to
computer science opens students’ eyes to the
possibilities of careers in fields they didn’t
even know existed.
Knowing how to prioritize computer science instruction in our K-12 schools is challenging, given the competing educational
demands. To be successful, schools need
to build internal capacity, including teachers who know the subject and can teach it,
rigorous curriculum, robust and ongoing
professional development, connectivity and
resources in the classroom, and room on
the master school calendar for new career
pathway courses. Students also need more
incentives to take computer science, given
crowded school schedules.
The National Science Foundation has set a
goal of having 10,000 well-trained computer
science teachers in 10,000 high school across
the United States. In California, NSF funding has supported a wide-ranging portfolio
of research and curriculum development designed to broaden participation in computer
science by appealing to underrepresented
students in computer science.
California now leads the nation in developing computer science curriculum and professional learning opportunities for teachers.
In an effort to engage students beyond traditional programming courses, the National
Science Foundation supports a pathway of
courses, including a few highlighted below.
Promising practices: New initiatives
There is an array of new and innovative
initiatives for computer science instruction.
Exploring Computer Science is designed
as an entry-level computer science course,
building skills and exposing all students to
computer science. C-STEM courses integrate math with programming and robotics.
Project Lead the Way has a full K-12 computer science curriculum that begins in kindergarten. Each of these programs offer UC
a-g credit, rigorous curriculum, professional
development for teachers and an associated
learning community.
The College Board, with funding from the
National Science Foundation, is developing
the framework for a new Advanced Placement computer science course, Computer
Science Principles. The course will expose
students to related issues of society, culture,
and ethics. It will be engaging, accessible,
inspiring, and rigorous and is now being piloted in select districts in California.
1.
ity for computer science instruction is the
ECS Professional Development Program.
The intensive summer institutes, coaching,
and quarterly inquiry groups throughout the
year help build a professional learning community of teacher leaders.
Teachers become equipped to facilitate
socially relevant and hands-on equity-based
instruction so that all students, especially
those in schools with high numbers of lowincome students of color, are introduced to
the problem solving, computational practices, creativity and critical thinking associated with doing computer science, rather
Exploring Computer Science.
ECS was developed in response
to previous research, detailed in
“Stuck in the Shallow End” (Margolis et
al., 2008), that identified disparities in computer science learning opportunities that fall
along race and socioeconomic lines. ECS is
committed to addressing the injustices of a
historically denied computer science education to underrepresented populations, while
also providing students with an engaging yet
rigorous experience.
Researchers and educators at UCLA’s
Center X, in partnership with LAUSD, developed ECS as an a-g and career technical
education-approved introductory computer
science course (www.exploringcs.org). It
was designed to introduce students to the
breadth of the field of computer science, and
develops students’ computational thinking
practices within the context of problems that
are culturally and socially relevant to the
lives of today’s students.
More than 2,000 students are enrolled in
ECS this school year in LAUSD, with majority Latino/a and African American participation and 45 percent female students.
ECS is a year-long high school computer
science curriculum that has been adopted
in several major urban districts nationwide.
Through teacher workshops and a professional ECS learning communi ty, teachers
learn strategies to effectively teach students
problem solving, web design, programming,
data analysis, robotics and other conceptual underpinnings of computer science.
A critical part of building teacher capac-
than just a narrow focus on coding, navigating particular syntax or tools.
ECS was recently granted program status
with UCOP so high schools can add it to the
a-g course list without having to prepare a
full course submission for review. The “g”
math elective is aligned with state standards
and with career technical education standards in the information and communication technologies sector. ECS can be the first
course in a pathway followed by courses like
CS Principles and AP Computer Science A,
along with other tech-related courses.
For more information about ECS, please
contact Julie Flapan ([email protected].
edu), or visit www.exploringcs.org.
2.
UC Davis C-STEM Integrated
Courses. C-STEM (Computing,
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is a UC approved
educational preparation program for undergraduate admission to all UC campuses.
C-STEM also has UC a-g program staSeptember/October 2015
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