Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2015 V45 No 1 | Page 36

tus. With Program Status approval, high schools can readily and easily add the “a-g approved ” rigorous C-STEM  curriculum integrated with computing and robotics to their own school’s a-g course lists to satisfy the UC/CSU admission requirements. Through cutting-edge research with funding from the National Science Foundation and California Department of Education, the C-STEM Center, in collaboration with industry partners, has developed innovative computing and robotics for K-14 hands-on learning, aligned with California standards. This integration helps students make meaningful connections between regular STEM topics and their relevance to real-life applications, as well as help develop students’ critical thinking and problemsolving skills. The center focuses on algebra, a gatekeeper for high-school graduation, university education and careers in STEM fields, to help close the achievement gap, and engage traditionally underrepresented groups and at-risk students in learning STEM sub- 36 Leadership jects while preparing all students to be career and college ready. The C-STEM Center offers formal integrated STEM courses and provides unique professional development for STEM teachers to integrate them into their classroom teaching, including elementary, middle and high school curriculum that integrates math, computing, robotics, algebra and programming. For more information about C-STEM, contact C-STEM Center Director Harry Cheng, [email protected]. 3. Project Lead the Way courses. Project Lead the Way California network has six regional hubs, six affiliate universities and nearly 700 schools. PLTW offers five programs that create K-12 curricular pathways for students in the areas of engineering, biomedical science, and now, computer science. PLTW’s comprehensive K-12 computer science pathway includes computer science lessons in the PLTW Launch (K-5) and PLTW Gateway (6-8) programs and a full high school Computer Science program. The pathway approach helps students build on their knowledge and skills and engages students at the earliest levels – a proven strategy for growing the number of girls and underrepresented minority students in the field. PLTW Computer Science focuses on computational thinking, not just learning how to code. Activities are age appropriate and many are “unplugged,” meaning they do not use computers, particularly in the elementary grades. Like PLTW’s other pathways, the computer science pathway includes face-to-face professional development for teachers, as well as day-to-day support through lesson plans, assessment tools, and on-call school and technical support. PLTW has also partnered with the College Board to develop a college and career pathway. For more information about PLTW, please contact: [email protected] or visit www.pltw.org.