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CS Principles

Overview

CS & IT 2012

CS & IT 2012

Atlantic

Computer Science Education Act Introduced in Both Houses (9/22/2011)

 The bill focuses on K-12 education

Fund planning grants for states to work with stakeholders to assess their computer science offerings in K-12 and develop concrete steps to strengthen them.

http://techpolicy.acm.org/blog/?p=1796

Computer Science Education Act Introduced in Both Houses

 Fund implementation grants for states, in partnership with local school districts and institutions of higher education, to carry out state plans by: developing state computer science standards,

curriculum, and assessments; improving access to underserved populations; building

professional development and teacher certification programs;

creating on-line courses; and, ensuring computer science offerings are an integral part of the curriculum

Computer Science Education Act Introduced in Both Houses

 Establish a blue-ribbon commission to review the state of computer science education nationwide, and bring states together to address the computer science teacher certification crisis

Establish computer science teacher preparation programs at institutions of higher education

Create an independent, rigorous evaluation of state programs funded under this Act with results reported to Congress and the Administration

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1614

Jan Cuny (Program Officer in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation) Her Critical Perspective begins by assessing the

current state of computer science education in the United States. Finding a significant lack of diversity among CS college graduates, and few opportunities to learn substantive computer science at K-12, she analyzes how these two problems (and others) can be addressed through focusing on pre-college education.

CS Principles

Results of Faculty ColloquiumOctober 2008

The following information reported by College Board to colloquium participants in December 2008

Rationale

66 key computer science faculty members were convened from top-tier institutions

The goal of the meeting was to inform faculty about the AP Computer Science course and exam, and to gauge interest in a potential different, future direction for AP Computer Science

Participating InstitutionsRose-Hulman Stevens Institute of TechnologyFlorida State University Harvard UniversityVirginia Tech University of Texas ArlingtonIllinois Institute of Technology University of California San DiegoSan Diego State University University of California DavisNew Jersey Institute of Technology University of Massachusetts AmherstColumbia University University of MinnesotaRice University Swarthmore CollegeUniversity of Aarhus College of William and MaryUniversity of Michigan Michigan Technological UniversityNorthwestern University University of California IrvineUniversity of South Florida Metropolitan State College of DenverUniversity of California Berkeley Florida International UniversityUniversity of Southern California Colorado School of MinesUniversity of Central Florida Creighton UniversityHarvey Mudd College University of WashingtonDartmouth College Boston UniversityPurdue University Vanderbilt UniversityMichigan State University University of FloridaBaylor University University of Texas at AustinRutgers University Carnegie Mellon UniversityIndiana University Drew UniversityUniversity of Texas at Dallas Rochester Institute of TechnologyGeorgia Institute of Technology Texas Tech UniversityGeorge Mason University University of California RiversideTufts University Princeton UniversityUniversity of Virginia The Ohio State UniversityUniversity of Wisconsin University of ArizonaDrexel University Colorado State UniversityUniversity of Illinois Bryn Mawr CollegeAmherst College Stanford UniversitySUNY Stony Brook University of HoustonUniversity of Maryland Duke University

Methodology

The AP Computer Science FC online satisfaction survey was sent out Sunday, October 26, 2008 just after the meeting ended

All 66 Computer Science Faculty Colloquium attendees responded to the survey

Executive Summary

Faculty believe that if only one AP Computer Science course is offered by the College Board, we should maintain a course such as the current AP CS A course, making incremental improvements, but keeping it focused on programming so that it aligns with the first course within the major.

However, there seems to be a desire for the current AP Computer Science A course and exam NOT to be the AP Program’s stand-alone Computer Science offering.

Executive Summary College faculty see much potential in the idea of the College

Board also providing a new and different AP Computer Science program that would broaden the appeal and perceived relevance of Computer Science and would attract a greater diversity of students to the major.

So long as the proposed new AP CS program would not replace outright the current AP CS A (programming-focused) course, there is considerable interest in the proposed new AP course.

However, they found it difficult to perceive the parameters of a proposed new course, and without a clear description of what the new course would entail, found it impossible to provide good information about the likelihood of credit, placement, and overall value of such an addition to the AP Program.

0.63%

9.7%

AP Computer Science: Principles Using Computational Thinking to Model a

New Course Advanced Placement Computer Science: Principles. NSF award: $2,093,450 effective September 1,

2009 and expires August 31, 2012. Principal Investigator: Owen Astrachan, Duke

University Co – PIs:

Amy Briggs, Middlebury College Lien Diaz, The College Board, AP Program

November 2009

AP CS: Principles

Not a replacement for the current AP CS A course

Must be a course for which college credit and/or placement is given (AP)

Not designed as a required course for majors Designed to appeal to a vastly larger and more

diverse set of students

November 2009

Commission Members Don Allen – Troy HS, CA Christine Alvarado – Harvey Mudd College Stacey Armstrong, Cypress Woods High School, TX Owen Astrachan – Duke University (PI) Charmaine Bentley – FDR High School, TX Amy Briggs – Middlebury College (Co-PI) Rich Kick – Newbury Park HS, CA Mark Guzdial – Georgia Institute of Technology Jody Paul – Metropolitan State College of Denver Chris Stephenson – Executive Director, CSTA

November 2009

Advisory Group Members Duane Bailey – Williams College Tiffany Barnes – UNC Charlotte Gail Chapman – Director, Leadership and PD, CSTA Tom Cortina – Carnegie Mellon University Stephen Edwards – Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Dan Garcia – UC Berkeley Joanna Goode – University of Oregon Susanne Hambrusch – Purdue University Michelle Hutton – President, CSTA Deepak Kumar – Bryn Mawr College Jim Kurose – U Mass Amherst Andrea Lawrence – Spellman College Richard Pattis – UC Irvine Eric Roberts – Stanford University Katie Siek – U Colorado at Boulder Beth Simon – UC San Diego Larry Snyder – University of Washington Lynn Andrea Stein – Olin College Fran Trees – Rutgers University

November 2009

Commission and Advisory Board Commission has task of delivering framework

for course/exam using evidence centered design

Advisory board provides feedback, guidelines, advice to commission Advisory board actually advises

Timeline 2009-2010

Big Ideas, Practices, Claims/Evidence 2010-11

Pilot I: Five colleges Draft College Survey Test item prototype

2011-12 Pilot II: 10+ colleges, 10+ high schools

Possible Next Timeline Necessary and sufficient conditions to

continue How do we ensure “substantial” buy-in?

2012-2013 Curricular framework finalized? Exam format identified

Deploy exam and course 2016? 2017?

Key ideas

Computer Science Principles is designed to introduce students to the central ideas of computing and computer science, to instill ideas and practices of computational thinking, and to have students engage in activities that show how computing and computer science change the world.

Annotated Course Outline

Key Theme: Creativity

We want students to create artifacts that they want to show off to their friends and family, using simulation to explore questions that interest them, and designing and implementing solutions employing the iterative and sometimes messy process that artists, writers, and engineers use to translate ideas into tangible form.

Annotated Course Outline

Key Theme: Use of Technology Use of technology as a means for solving

computational problems and exploring creative endeavors, rather than a focus on a specific tool or language. programming is one of the seven big ideas programming is a tool students use to explore

concepts and create exciting and personally relevant artifacts.

students will work with "big-data"—to analyze it, to visualize it, to draw conclusions from trends in it

Annotated Course Outline

Key Theme: People and Society, Students will explore computer science’s

relevance to and impact on the world today. They will investigate the innovations in other

fields that computing and computer science have made possible.

They will examine the ethical implications of new computing technologies.

They will perform activities that develop their communication and teamwork skills.

They will talk and write about their solutions, the importance of these problems and their impact on the world.

Annotated Course Outline

Success in the course Compelling curriculum Engaging pedagogy

We’re not just changing content, we’re changing how Computer Science is taught and, in turn, who chooses to take it.

Annotated Course Outline

Resources Available http://www.csprinciples.org/

Seven Big Ideas, Key Concepts, Supporting Concepts

Six Computational Thinking Practices Claims and Evidence Statements