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Steve Kelly

What would an exceptional middle and high school computer science curriculum include? -... - 48 views

  • What would an exceptional middle and high school computer science curriculum include?
  • This isn't a complete answer, but one thing the very first introductory classes should require is that the students turn off all their electronic computers and actually learn to walk through  algorithms with a computer that exists only on paper. (Or, I suppose, a whiteboard or a simulator.) This exercise would give the students a grounding in what is going on inside the computer as a very low level.My first computer programming class in my Freshman year of high school was completely on paper. Although it was done because the school didn't have much money, it turned out to be very beneficial.Another class I had in high school, that wouldn't normally be lumped into a Computer Science curriculum but has been a boon to my career, was good old Typing 101.
  • If you followed the CS Unplugged curriculum your students would know more about CS than most CS grads:http://csunplugged.orgIt's a really great intro to basic computer science concepts and very easy for students to understand.  Best of all you don't even need a computer per student if your school doesn't have the budget,
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  • For younger students, I think that the ability to make something professional-looking, like a real grown-up would, is paramount.  Sadly, I think this means that LOGO and BASIC aren't much use any more*.
  • So, we have a few choices.  You can try to write phone apps that look just like real phone apps, design interactive websites that look just like real interactive websites, or do something with embedded systems / robotics.  Avoid the temptation to make these things into group projects; the main thing every student needs to experience is the process of writing code, running it, debugging it, and watching the machine react to every command.
  • It is important to consider what an 11 to 18-year old is familiar with in terms of mathematics and logical thinking. An average 11-year old is probably learning about fractions, simple cartesian geometry, the concept of units, and mathematical expressions. By 15, the average student will be taking algebra, and hopefully will have the all-important concept of variables under his/her belt. So much in CS is dependent on solid understanding that symbols and tokens can represent abstract concepts, values, or algorithms. Without it, it's still possible to teach CS, but it must be done in a very different way (see Scratch).
  • At this point, concepts such as variables, parenthesis matching, and functions (of the mathematical variety) are within easy reach. Concepts like parameter passing, strings and collections, and program flow should be teachable. More advanced concepts such as recursion, references and pointers, certain data structures, and big-O may be very difficult to teach without first going through some more foundational math.
  • I tend to agree strongly with those that believe a foundational education should inspire interest and enforce concepts and critical thinking over teaching any specific language, framework, system, or dogma.
  • The key is that the concepts in CS aren't just there for the hell of it. Everything was motivated by a real problem, and few things are more satisfying than fixing something you really want to work with a cool technique or concept you just learned.
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    Great resource for teachers (especially those of us not initially trained in Computer Science) about what should 'count' as Computer Science.  Worth the read!
Holly Barlaam

Science Fix - 91 views

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    Lots of Science demonstrations aimed at Middle School
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    Science Fix I is a teacher blog created by a middle school science teacher to share their favorite demos done in class. Some cool useful videos here (examples include activation energy, water electrolysis, flaming gummy worm, Newton's 3rd law, etc)
Elaine Matheny

Middle School Science bowl Competition - 29 views

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    Resources for middle school science bowl
Randy Yerrick

Science Assessments for Middle School Teachers - College of Education and Human Develop... - 26 views

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    This website gives outlines for science assessments for middle school science teachers.  It discusses the theories behind them and what should be incorporated.
Kristen Rush

Middle School Science with Vernier - 5 views

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    Middle School Science with Vernier probes - the Lab manual - what activities work with which probes.
Tanya Windham

Dissent Magazine - Winter 2011 Issue - Got Dough? Public Scho... - 59 views

  • To justify their campaign, ed reformers repeat, mantra-like, that U.S. students are trailing far behind their peers in other nations, that U.S. public schools are failing. The claims are specious. Two of the three major international tests—the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the Trends in International Math and Science Study—break down student scores according to the poverty rate in each school. The tests are given every five years. The most recent results (2006) showed the following: students in U.S. schools where the poverty rate was less than 10 percent ranked first in reading, first in science, and third in math. When the poverty rate was 10 percent to 25 percent, U.S. students still ranked first in reading and science. But as the poverty rate rose still higher, students ranked lower and lower. Twenty percent of all U.S. schools have poverty rates over 75 percent. The average ranking of American students reflects this. The problem is not public schools; it is poverty. And as dozens of studies have shown, the gap in cognitive, physical, and social development between children in poverty and middle-class children is set by age three.
  • Drilling students on sample questions for weeks before a state test will not improve their education. The truly excellent charter schools depend on foundation money and their prerogative to send low-performing students back to traditional public schools. They cannot be replicated to serve millions of low-income children. Yet the reform movement, led by Gates, Broad, and Walton, has convinced most Americans who have an opinion about education (including most liberals) that their agenda deserves support.
  • THE COST of K–12 public schooling in the United States comes to well over $500 billion per year. So, how much influence could anyone in the private sector exert by controlling just a few billion dollars of that immense sum? Decisive influence, it turns out. A few billion dollars in private foundation money, strategically invested every year
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  • Hundreds of private philanthropies together spend almost $4 billion annually to support or transform K–12 education, most of it directed to schools that serve low-income children (only religious organizations receive more money). But three funders—the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Eli and Edythe Broad (rhymes
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    A great analysis of the problems with financial giants supporting educational reform.
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    This is one juicy article which may change your view of the big picture of ed reform or help you get others to see it more clearly. Pass it on.
N Butler

Middle School - PhET Simulations - 121 views

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    Interactive Simulations for math and science includes all grades
Holly Barlaam

CAST Science Writer - 85 views

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    Free website takes students through each step of the writing process to write a research report. 
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    Tool that supports students in writing lab and class reports. This tool is geared toward middle school and high school students.
Randy Yerrick

Middle School Chemistry | Download Free Science Activities, Access Chemistry Multimedia... - 113 views

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    Great website with lesson plans and lots of multimedia covering basic chemistry topics. Though titled "middle school chemistry" much of the material can be referred to or used for basic high school chemistry or even biology (such as the basics on bonding, water molecules, etc).
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    Agreed. The chapter on the periodic table is worth it just for the animations, let alone the lesson plans and other resources. What a good get, Holly. Kudos to the American Chemical Society for setting it up.
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    Worth a bump, I stumbled upon this gem today. Excellent resource, there is even a free pdf textbook.
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    Middle School Chemistry lessons with worksheets and standards.
Randy Yerrick

The Science Spot - 6 views

shared by Randy Yerrick on 29 Oct 09 - Cached
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    This website gives lessons for science teachers from middle school to high school.
Steve Ransom

Despite Obama's Urging, Policy Stymies Science Students, Teachers Say - NYTimes.com - 18 views

  • In middle school, science fair projects are typically still required — and, teachers lament, all too often completed by parents.
  • In many schools, science fairs depend on teachers who shoulder the extra work. They supervise participants and research, raise the money for medals and poster boards, and find judges — all on their own time.
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    Sad statement of the lack of sufficient time to really get into science that leads naturally to the display of learning... on class time, not extracurricular time. The US DOE is really not interested in deep learning at all...
Damien Murtagh

NASAeClips's Channel - YouTube - 59 views

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    NASA eClips is organized according to grade level with playlists intended for elementary school, middle school, and high school.
Gerald Carey

MiddleSchoolPortal/Misconceptions at the Middle - NSDLWiki - 41 views

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    Good range of science misconceptions (or is it alternative conceptions) held by Middle School students.
Randy Yerrick

http://www.albany.edu/nykids/files/MiddleSchool_Science_FullReport.pdf - 13 views

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    This report analyzes what works in middle school science classrooms.  It gives elements of assessment that lead to higher performance in science such as fairness/fun, focus, foundations, fluency, and fit.
Lee-Anne Patterson

Middle School Portal - the network for middle school math and science teachers - 1 views

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    Ning site that is dedicated to providing professional development for Maths and Science teachers
Holly Barlaam

Science Demos - 138 views

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    Lots of cool science related demos here, mostly seem to be geared toward elementary and middle school
anonymous

The Physics Front - 81 views

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    Excellent physics resources for teachers - including elementary and middle school!
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    Excellent physics resources for teachers - including elementary and middle school!
Steve Ransom

The fantasies driving school reform: A primer for education graduates - The Answer Shee... - 5 views

  • Richard Rothstein
  • In truth, this conventional view relies upon imaginary facts.
  • Let me repeat: black elementary school students today have better math skills than white students did only twenty years ago.
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  • As a result, we’ve wasted 15 years avoiding incremental improvement, and instead trying to upend a reasonably successful school system.
  • But the reason it hasn’t narrowed is that your profession has done too good a job — you’ve improved white children’s performance as well, so the score gap persists, but at a higher level for all.
  • Policymakers, pundits, and politicians ignore these gains; they conclude that you, educators, have been incompetent because the test score gap hasn’t much narrowed.
  • If you believe public education deserves greater support, as I do, you will have to boast about your accomplishments, because voters are more likely to aid a successful institution than a collapsing one.
  • In short, underemployment of parents is not only an economic crisis — it is an educational crisis. You cannot ignore it and be good educators.
  • equally important educational goals — citizenship, character, appreciation of the arts and music, physical fitness and health, and knowledge of history, the sciences, and literature.
  • If you have high expectations, your students can succeed regardless of parents’ economic circumstances. That is nonsense.
  • health insurance; children are less likely to get routine and preventive care that middle class children take for granted
  • If they can’t see because they don’t get glasses to correct vision difficulties, high expectations can’t teach them to read.
  • Because education has become so politicized, with policy made by those with preconceptions of failure and little understanding of the educational process, you are entering a field that has become obsessed with evaluating only results that are easy to measure, rather than those that are most important. But as Albert Einstein once said, not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts.
  • To be good educators, you must step up your activity not only in the classroom, but as citizens. You must speak up in the public arena, challenging those policymakers who will accuse you only of making excuses when you speak the truth that children who are hungry, mobile, and stressed, cannot learn as easily as those who are comfortable.
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    An important read for anyone who truly wants to understand what's really important in education and the false reform strategies of our current (and past) administration.
Gregory Louie

Candidate Educational Software Titles - 0 views

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    I'm collecting a running list of promising educational software titles to support higher-order thinking in middle school science classes.
Jean Potter

Fuel the Brain | Educational Resources and Games - 74 views

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    math games, interactives, printables, and teacher guides - math now but plans to add science and social studies, elementary and maybe middle school. mostly free
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