These excerpts are from interviews with Casey’s Last Period students. All quotes have been reviewed by the students and permission has been given by their parents.

Kole

Kole: My piece of advice would be when you’re learning the basics, when you start the class and start learning and you don’t go into coding — stick with it.

Ryan & Emily

Ryan: I just thought coding was interesting because I thought computers were cool and I wanted to help make them work better. Every program I try to use I try to figure out the limits of it. And since I have a bad computer at my house it doesn’t take long.

Emily: I started learning a little bit my freshman year. I mostly used Robot C, which was in the Robotics Club I do. I think it’s interesting to learn the basics of how computers work and the things you can do.

In Robotics, they give a challenge and we have to build a robot that completes the challenge. This year, our challenge is ‘In the Zone’ — you have to program a robot to a remote and it has to pick up things and stack them, then pick up the stack and put it in a Zone. The best part is the Autonomous challenge — you pre-program the robot so it does 15 seconds all by itself.

This year there are 7 of us in the club. I’m the only programmer on our team and I program all the robots right now. And none of our instructors know how, so I had to teach myself.

I really enjoy the problem solving part of it.

CS Student Profile Series: “None of our instructors know how, so I had to teach myself” was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

These excerpts are from interviews with Casey’s Second Period students. All quotes have been reviewed by the students and permission has been given by their parents.

Mariana, Mason, Alex, & Lucas

Mariana: I first got into it with hacking my sister’s Instagram. So 4 years? Now I hack everything. I love puzzles.

Mason: I work on guitars and with the frets, you have to level them and round them. And someone just coded a machine to do that. And a machine does it in 40 minutes and a person does it in an hour. It’s cool to see how many problems you can solve and things you can speed up.

Alex: Coding expands your creativity — it’s not like traditional school where there’s one correct answer in math. I learned C programming before I learned Algebra and it was a lot easier to learn Algebra after learning C. There’s a lot of ways to solve old problems in new ways.

Lucas: I’ve been learning for 1.5 years but been learning about computers and cyber security since I was 8. I hit a wall with that not knowing how to code or how computers worked so I had to learn that. In this increasingly technological world — without a basic understanding of current technologies… it matters.

Alex: I want CS to help educate the next generation. Once you kind of know how things work and understand them better, well, ignorance can be dangerous.

Mariana: It’s like the new reading. My mom’s a computer programmer — she was one of two girls in her classes. It’s such a near future and evolving so fast. Soon if you don’t know how to program, basically you don’t know how to do things.

CS Student Profile Series: “Now I hack everything. I love puzzles.” was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

These excerpts are from interviews with Casey’s Second Period students. All quotes have been reviewed by the students and permission has been given by their parents.

Jack and Justin

Jack: The most difficult thing about coding is that when people get stuck, a lot of people want to stop rather than find a solution around it. They get frustrated an quit. One of the best things is learning more about problem solving and not quitting. Instead, finding a way around it to solve it.

Justin: The best thing is that you don’t have to write the code out in a certain way. As long as it works. It gives you creativity on how to solve different problems — it’s not just one certain way.

Jack: Right, not everyone codes in the same way.

CS Student Profile Series: “Not everyone codes in the same way” was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

These excerpts are from interviews with Casey’s First Period students. All quotes have been reviewed by the students and permission has been given by their parents.

Faith & Alana

Faith: I’ve been learning coding for 2 years now. I started learning coding my Junior year. I got into it because my dad and I had a friend who was doing it as well. He’s a programmer at Zoot. He created his own computer language — it was cool and he was like ‘I think you’d be good at it’ — I said ‘ok I’ll try.’ I did it last year and I fell in love with it completely. I had so much fun learning. It’s like this puzzle you get to solve and do and it’s really relaxing.

Alana: I started at the beginning of the semester. I had some unofficial things before — Khan Academy mostly — and I thought it would be really cool. My brother and I both got into it — we’re twins.

How would you like to see Computer Science change the world?

Faith: One thing I’ve become really interested in is how to throw Computer Science in with Psychology. I did a project in Psychology class to map the human brain. We created an algorithm to take a ton of people’s MRIs and we mapped the pre-frontal cortex. We found 81 new features of the brain, in addition to the 91 that are already identified.

It’s so interesting to able to understand the human brain and how humans think and how to be able to help PTSD victims and other mental illnesses. We don’t understand so much about the brain and Computer Science could be something to help us understand more.

Alana: I think Computer Science could really keep improving cybersecurity — making all our systems more secure. There’s so much we don’t understand.

CS Student Profile Series: “It’s like this puzzle you get to solve and do and it’s really relaxing.” was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

These excerpts are from interviews with Casey’s First Period students. All quotes have been reviewed by the students and permission has been given by their parents.

Joey & Nick

Joey: Computers make up the fundamental infrastructure of modern life. Being able to use them and interact with them, instead of being an end consumer of the way the modern world works, is essential. It allows modern society to function.

Currently, I’m trying to create public and private encryption without using any libraries.

Nick: Computer Science education is an important thing that everyone should know because computers are the present and are going to be even more the future. The more that everyone knows about them now, the better we can solve the problems that are going to arise.

I got my start in 6th grade, though it was pretty bad. We got a new computer and I started trying to pirate things. It was my dad’s computer and I pretty much destroyed it with viruses and stuff. But, it still works. And in 8th grade, Joey gave me a Rasbperry Pi and I used it. In 8th grade, I learned Scratch.

How would you like to see Computer Science change the world?

Joey: I’d like to see open source tax filing. Turbo Tax and other tax companies have lobbied the government so that basically they don’t do direct tax billing. Which is how it should be done. The government knows your SSN and your income and all that. They should be able to send you a bill for what you owe. I’d like to create a product that’s similar to Turbo Tax and other software companies that is actually able to do the tax reform that this country needs. Replace their software with something better and easier to use.

CS Student Profile Series: “I’d like to see open source tax filing” was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Too often in computer science education, “rural” is tacked on as an afterthought. People talk generally about rural schools, instead of talking meaningfully with those who work in them.

That’s why it was great to watch the ‘Unlocking the Potential of Small and Rural Communities’ talks from the 2017 CSforALL Summit. In these videos, rural stakeholders spoke to their experiences building computer science in rural communities.

While I watched them, I noticed two themes worth taking away: the essential role of developing teacher leaders and the importance of meaningful relationships with industry partners.

Developing Teacher Leaders

Teachers are often learning computer science themselves, so investing in their learning means supporting their work in multiple ways.

Providing administrative support and access to resources

In ‘Spotlight: Code Missouri Partnership,’ Kevin Pekkarinen described teaching math and CS in Fayette, MO in a high school of about 180 students. He spoke about his administration encouraging him to use CodeHS to offer computer science to all of his students, as one way to reach both students interested in college and those interested in going straight into the workforce.

Training confident and competent CS teachers

While Kevin, like other pioneer teachers, jumped at the chance to spearhead a CS initiative, in a panel talk on ‘Supporting CSforALL in Rural Districts,’ Paige Prescott of CSTA-NM pointed out that “We don’t have enough teachers who feel they can teach computer science.”

This is a real, and immediate, challenge for both K-12 and higher education. They are asking: how do we train interested teachers in computer science without adding ‘one more thing’ to everyone’s plates?

Growing while rooted in the classroom

In that same panel discussion, Michelle Rinehart, of WeTeach_CS, asked how rural communities could keep teacher talent local. She encouraged everyone to “keep reimagining what that looks like, to support teachers to grow in the profession, grow into leaders, but to lead education from their classrooms.”

This invitation is key to supporting growth in rural schools. Teachers stay, mentor, grow, all from within the classrooms and communities they love.

Cultivating Industry Connections

Within computer science there are so many types of jobs. This diversity can be overwhelming, but it can also offer a unique opportunity for helping students see themselves in the field.

The talks highlighted three ways to help rural students connect with computer science professionals.

Bring Professionals Into the Classroom

Kevin Wang is the founder of Microsoft TEALS, a program that brings in industry partners to co-teach CS with classroom teachers. In a Spotlight talk on CSforALL in Appalachia, he discussed how by having teachers collaborate with CS professionals in teaching their classes, students also get a glimpse into the ways of thinking and problem solving that CS professionals use.

Send Kids Out of the Classroom

In the same CSforAll talk in Appalachia, Superintendent Jim Evans of the Beattyville Schools described how their partnership with TEALS and some support by AT&T has enabled the district to send four groups of kids to Seattle to give kids an experience they wouldn’t otherwise get.

Represent Rural Tech in CS Recruitment and Curriculum Materials

Rural kids are surrounded by land — farmland, mountains, desert, ranches. They see few brick-and-mortar tech industries in their small towns. When they watch CS videos, they don’t see their lives reflected in them, especially so when the videos focus on the big corporations of Silicon Valley.

This ‘single story’ of the tech industry hinders students’ perception of themselves in the many fields available to them. In the panel talk, Paige Prescott, of CSforNM, proposed the idea of helping rural students see themselves in CS materials. She proposed: “If we can create a video bank that has our local tech industry, make them the local stars of our area. So then the parents aren’t fearful of our kids leaving.”

Looking Forward

On each day of CSEdWeek 2017, CSforAll focused on a different theme related to computer science education. Thursday, December 9 foregrounded #rural education efforts, and that day’s tweets highlighted enthusiastic and impactful work being done all over the country.

I’m looking forward to joining these folks, and others, as we all keep a spotlight on the growth happening in rural computer science education.

#CSforALL in Small & Rural Communities was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We hear about the importance of computer science education on social media and in the news. As more teachers learn to teach computer science to their students, it’s helpful to have a quick reference guide to what computer science is as well as what informs computer science education.

What Is Computer Science?

When it comes to computer science, there are plenty of definitions of what it is (and of what it’s not).

The definitions that I find most helpful are the ones that make concrete the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of computer science. For example:

“Computer Science: The study of computers and algorithmic processes, including their principles, their hardware and software designs, their application, and their impact on society” (Tucker et. al, 2006, p.2).

Definitions are important — policymakers use them to guide statewide CS standards adoption, non-profits use them to orient their programs, and laypeople use them to understand what (generally) kids these days are learning.

But, as we all know, rarely is a definition the only factor to take into consideration.

What Informs Computer Science Education?

Teachers need an understanding of computer science in order to teach it (content knowledge). In addition, they also need to understand what practices support teaching CS to their specific students (pedagogical knowledge).

As they design instruction, it’s also good to have a good grasp on other articulations of computer science education. These include state requirements, national and state standards, district curriculum, and school-based curricular alignment. Teachers take these broader articulations of CS and combine them with their content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and student knowledge to inform classroom curriculum and instruction.

The following chart is meant to be helpful when navigating the differences between all of these moving parts. Specifically, it’s intended for teachers who are beginning to ask, “how do I teach computer science to my students?”

The Multiple Moving Parts of Computer Science Education

The following section explores each of these features that play different roles in designing Computer Science Education:

• K-12 Computer Science Framework
• State Requirements
• Standards: Next Generation Science Standards
• Standards: ISTE Standards for Students
• Standards: Common Core State Standards
• Curriculum
• Instruction

K-12 Computer Science Framework

link

State Requirements

example: Montana

Next Generation Science Standards

link

*crosswalk with how NGSS and CS Framework overlap, complement, and are different

**Teacher talking about NGSS and CS in her classroom

ISTE Standards for Students

International Society for Technology in Education

Common Core State Standards

link

*crosswalk from CCSS to AP CS A

Curriculum

Instruction

What Informs Computer Science Education? was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Choosing Bootcamp over College

When I graduated high school, I was thinking about what I should do. I was planning on going to college for Petroleum and Engineering so I took a bunch of classes geared towards that in high school. But I didn’t get any scholarships and college is way too expensive to pay out of pocket.

My dad and brother heard about Big Sky Code Academy on the radio and they said “you should go try that.” So, I contacted them and got some pre-work stuff, then went to a coding weekend. I said to myself: “Well it’s a good profession, I could do it, might as well.” And it’s a lot cheaper than college. I was pretty much jumping in head first, just “see where this goes.”

My Current Project

My current project is learning React Native to build an app that helps a soup kitchen collect information about homeless people in the area they serve — are you a veteran, is this your first meal here, that kind of stuff. Originally, it was built on the web, and they were logging into it on a tablet. But they were running into some issues when people swiped with two fingers — on the newer tablets that takes you back a page. So, I’m rebuilding it in React Native which will help fix those issues and will be nicer.

I’ve been learning React Native for the last few days. But it’s a lot like React so I should be able to pick it up pretty quick. React’s philosophy behind it is, ‘Learn once, build everywhere’ so it’s a real easy one to pick up.

It’ll definitely be easier because I’m a lot more familiar with how programming works.

Pair Programming Sessions as the Best Way to Learn Coding

The most difficult thing is learning something new on your own. Because you can read about code all day but, even if it’s well-written, it’s still pretty confusing. It’s tough to get your head around stuff just from reading about code.

Pair programming makes it easier. We’ll just pop in and do a pair programming session. Someone shares their screen and you talk about the code. “What do you think about this, or should we do it another way?” There’s one person driving. You’re sitting there and they’re going through it and explaining what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, you can see it being written and how it works. It makes a lot more sense when you can see how the different pieces of code are written and how they interact with each other.

Kids learning to code could get a lot out of something like it with tech mentors. It’s almost like they’re right there with you. You’re still writing the code, you’re still talking to them directly, and discussing the code.

Learning on Real Projects

In July or August, I had to build the eCommerce store part of a project. It was a huge struggle because I was still so new at coding, there were times when I’d sit back, laugh a little, and say, “I have no idea what i’m doing.”. It was really difficult to get it to work between different components. I learned so much during that time but it was also frustrating to figure out how to do it, but it’s the best feeling once you get it figured out.

The only time I’ve built projects for the sake of projects was in school. Now I’ve got a job I’ve been working on real stuff for a client. I’ve been sitting in a lot with the two senior devs on the team I work with, coding through stuff, and how we should structure the code, code architecture, organization. I’ve learned so much — the way I was thinking before was so wrong. Listening to them has completely changed how I was thinking.

It’s been cool to be a part of it, just seeing how things should actually be built, and how to make things awesome.

Advice to High School Students

Do it. It’s a cushy job. You’re not out there doing construction or moving appliances, both of which I’ve done. And it pays well. If you don’t know what you want to do, for college or something, I’d say definitely do this.

It’s funny because all my counselors would tell me “you don’t have to know what you want to do — you’ve got two years to figure that out” and I’m like “no I don’t — I’m not spending $40,000 to figure out what I want to do.” So, I got in for $5,000. I learned a good bit, and I got a job after, and I’ve learned a whole bunch since then.

CS Student Profile: Pony Linnell was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This is Teri’s seventh year teaching and her first teaching a Computer Science course. She teaches at Spearfish Middle School, in Spearfish, SD, where she has taught STEM courses for four years and helps organize the school-wide Hour of Code each December. In addition to having coached robotics for 2 years and advising the Spartan Tech Squad, Teri started a makerspace where students have been coding robots & drones as well as creating 3D prints, cardboard furniture, and duct tape items. In our conversation, Teri talked about helping students make connections between their lives and computer science, the reasons why her high achieving students struggle with computer science, and the importance of CS in middle school.

What Computer Science Looks Like at Spearfish Middle School

Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade have two electives each trimester, P.E. and one choice, and right now it’s mandatory that they take a tech course in each grade. We have been doing Project Lead the Way for four years, and this trimester I piloted Computer Science Discoveries from Code.org as an additional computer science elective. I have twenty 7th grade students who wanted to try the class and were able to get their schedule adjusted.

The kids really like coding. They will ask if they can do coding as a medium for projects in other classes. Where kids would traditionally would have done a poster for geography, there was a student who took an avatar and programmed it to walk across a map of the country and tell facts about it as it went. So they use their coding knowledge to complete projects for other classes.

As faculty, we’re all really excited about coding and it’s spreading. Last year, we hired a new staff member who trained in the PLTW Computer Science curriculum at the middle school level. Our students K-5 have experience with Code.org in their Computer courses.The expansion of our program has now spread to other grade levels, so kids coming up have already been exposed to coding and then, high schoolers are saying “you know, we really need some more.”

Making that Connection: Starting with Interest and Success

The most difficult part of coding is that it’s so abstract for some kids. Like “Ok, I typed a number here, what does that mean?” With robotics and app labs students can enter code and immediately see the connection, the effect of it. That has been the most helpful.

I’ve noticed that it helps to start students off with something that they will have success at. So, Code.org, Hour of Code lessons. So if it’s a Star Wars one, even if it’s not their grade level, if it matches their interest. When they’re successful with that then as a teacher you can say “you already know how to do XYZ, and you’re going to take this to apply how to do this problem.” It’s easier to work with the kids with the harder stuff when you have things to build on.

And, finding ways to build coding with projects that they can see. Whether that’s with using Code Academy with HTML and the website shows up as you’re coding. Or using Sphero Robots, or Lego Robots, where you’re putting the code in and you can see exactly what it does or doesn’t do help you make that connection.

Making that Connection: Rural Learners Seeing Themselves in Computer Science

If they want to program a drone, you can show them videos of how in the hurricane areas they’re using drones to do insurance claims. And when we had a blizzard in South Dakota, we had a lot of cattle die. They had drones fly over the field to fly over the fields so the ranchers could see where the carcasses were. So to help them see “this is why it’s important, this is what you can do with it.” This helps them with the desire for learning it.

Kids should go and get an education and learn a trade. But, we also don’t want our communities to disappear. So what can you offer them in Computer Science that will help them with their communities, with their families? There are crop-planting robots and crop management and all these kinds of things that computer science helps with. They need more examples from rural communities so they see the value. They need to see themselves in the examples.

Students who Struggle with Computer Science: High Achieving Students

The students who struggle the most are the high achieving students who are not used to encountering academic struggles. Because traditional school, they have mastered — they are pros.

Then they get to Computer Science, and there’s a lot of possibilities — there’s not always a right or wrong answer. There’s so many ways that you can solve a problem.

And even with our competitive robotics team and we had students who were strong academically, straight-A students, and they got really frustrated really quickly and had a hard time because they’re not used to not knowing what the problem is, first of all, they have to figure that out. And not having A, B, C, or D to answer.

Those are the students who have struggled most because it’s not a write or wrong answer.

Computer Science and Introverts, Extroverts

The most challenging for me at TeacherCon was all the group work. The Computer Science Discoveries curriculum is all partner programming. And I’m an introvert so I was struggling by Friday because I had to talk to people all day and be around people. It was really challenging for me.

But, it’s led me to a lot of reflection as educator. How frequently do I force my students to be collaborative? I’m thinking about how to provide opportunities for kids to learn how to work alone but also work with a group. But give them breaks when the need them. My goal when I start teaching Computer Science Discoveries is to find ways to honor the introvert and to find alone time and to have kids work together constructively in partners. And find that balance.

Students Supporting Students

I believe that kids learn best by talking with other kids. I say to them: “I’m not an expert — I know way less than you do. So you have to help each other out if we’re going to get anywhere.”

We’re doing Hour of Code and I encourage kids to do ‘ask three before me’ talk to your peers. They do! They’ll say “I got this one!” and run around. They’ll ask each other, “Did you use the help icon? Did you use the tips?”

When I was gone — I missed a week of school in October — I left the Express course on Code.org for my 8th graders. And the sub left all these notes about how she had no idea about what was going on but the kids were amazing. The students who were far ahead kept going around and checking in with their peers and helping with the parts they got stuck on. They wanted to do more of that — they wanted to do it when I got back.

Reaching All Students

I have students who are on IEPs and aren’t in mainstream classrooms the entire day and they participate in my classes. There is an equal interest in STEM and Computer Science courses among male and female students. I do have English Language Learners who are in the classes and participate. We’ve never had a student feel like “well, that’s not for me, I can’t do it.”

Being a female who has a higher education degree and loves coding, I want to share that with students, I love hearing, “I got it!” or “I used coding!” or “I went home and taught my little sister!” The best is when the kids are getting excited about it.

Computer Science Teacher Profile: Teri Bauerly was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What Computer Science Classes Look like at Powell Middle School

I teach three different Computer Science classes. We have Computer Science 1, our introductory programming class which uses Small Basic. I also teach Web Development 1, an intro to web design where students learn HTML and CSS while building web pages. Lastly, I teach Robotics 1, using Lego NXT and programming in Robot C.

Students Today are in the Technology Age

I truly believe computer science will be what the students in the future will be doing. Either our students will be programming, updating, creating, maintaining or developing technology.

I was raised at the end of the space race. Math was the most important thing. Then, in high school, it was the construction age, engineering was everything. I think our kids will be in the middle of the technology age. The more familiar and comfortable they are with how technology works (not how to use it) the better off they will be.

Connection between Industry and Computer Science for Rural Students

Although I don’t think it should be different for a kid from Powell (pop. 6,300) compared to Casper (pop. 55,000), I do think think industrial technology will be important.

Instead of just learning how to weld, students will need to know how technology will change how they weld. Agriculture, construction all these areas will be affected by technology.

It will be important that our rural students understand this and how it will affect the decisions they make for after high school.

I think it gives them a heads up on what is happening to their farming/ranching fields. The integration of technology in how to plant/water/grow fields, the use of GPS to increase yields, using technology and science to modify seed, all these things go into farming and ranching.

Understanding this technology or the use of it, puts our students ahead of the game. It, hopefully, will give them more opportunities in college.

In the next 5 years…

My hope is that all students are exposed to computer science is some form or another.

Whether it’s programming, robotics, web development or some other CS class, just the exposure will help students so they can see what is going on in the current world and what will most likely be going in their future world.

Computer Science Teacher Profile: Joel Hayano was originally published in America Campaign on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.