The place of Computer Science in the National Curriculum for England In April 2011 ALT responded to the DFE consultation about revisions to the National Curriculum for England1. In recent weeks there has been plenty of discussion in the media and in Government about the place of Computer Science in the curriculum. We've consulted within ALT and more widely and have framed some views on this question, in the form of a response to three questions: * To get the next generation of comp scientists do we need CS in the NC? * Where do we put CS? * Should CS be only for those who are interested or for all?
Do you need resources to introduce your high school students to the field of computer science? Would you like to more fully integrate principles of computing and computational thinking into your classroom? The University of Michigan's CS4HS workshop is designed to support the activities of computer science teachers and to establish a dialog about the focus and requirements of collegiate CS programs, so that high school students can be better prepared for a future in computer science.
The Finch is a new robot for computer science education. Its design is the result of a four year study at Carnegie Mellon's CREATE lab. The Finch is made to easily integrate into high school and college CS courses. Institutions piloting the Finch have shown improved retention and year-over-year enrollment growth in their CS1 courses.
The Finch is a new robot for computer science education. Its design is the result of a four year study at Carnegie Mellon's CREATE lab. The Finch is made to easily integrate into high school and college CS courses. Institutions piloting the Finch have shown improved retention and year-over-year enrollment growth in their CS1 courses.
The National Science Foundation, in support of Computer Science Education Week 2011 (CS Ed Week), is proud to announce its rollout of CS Bits & Bytes, a biweekly newsletter highlighting innovative computer science research.
Last week Doug Peterson pointed me to an article called "Let's not call it computer science if we really mean computer programming." My initial reaction was "Let's not call it computer programming if we really mean software engineering." Really the author was talking more about the difference between CS and SE than much else.The ACM has a great Computing Careers web site which lists a number of computing fields and degrees. I recommend this series to teachers and guidance councilors all the time. They list five different degree paths:
Last week Doug Peterson pointed me to an article called "Let's not call it computer science if we really mean computer programming." My initial reaction was "Let's not call it computer programming if we really mean software engineering." Really the author was talking more about the difference between CS and SE than much else.The ACM has a great Computing Careers web site which lists a number of computing fields and degrees. I recommend this series to teachers and guidance councilors all the time. They list five different degree paths:
Do you need resources to show your high school students the exciting world of computer science? Join us for a 3-day summer workshop at Carnegie Mellon University where you can learn how to use lots of exciting examples in your classes to open the world of computer science to your students!
Doug, thank you for the link to the article. I just spent a few days in Boston with CS Educators at the App Inventor Summit and the issues discussed in this article now make more sense to me.
The CS Principles project (csprinciples.org) looks like a huge step in the right direction. It "could" become the foundation of introductory CS courses in high school (AP) and in post-secondary. They have run 2 years of pilot courses and it looks promising. The next generation AP exam will likely be language agnostic - designs will likely be expressed in pseudocode and the course really engages with students (not just programming).
"Introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming. This course teaches students how to think algorithmically and solve problems efficiently."
"Few subjects will open as many doors for students in the 21st century
as computer science (CS). The Oracle Academy provides resources to
help awaken and deepen student interest in this important field of study."
Well you don't have to look far. This year the Computer Science and Information Technology Conference (CS & IT) has all these things and a whole lot more.
Please join like-minded computer science and IT educators for a great learning experience July 9th and 10th, 2012, in Irvine, California.
I checked out their website and I find it a bit of a joke. First off, their Introduction to CS includes topics like PL/SQL which is proprietary. Oracle states that their Introduction to CS workshop is free and then when you go to enrol it is only available in China, India, and Brazil. I was expecting them to offer something like the FREE course that Stanford offered this spring by Nick Parlante.