As recently as a decade or two ago, technology education consisted of typing, learning to draft emails, or doing a little work in a spreadsheet. Learning those skills may have been relegated to a business information class or weekly trips to a computer lab. Today, most students are expected to learn to code, and most states have coding requirements—some starting as early as kindergarten.

That’s a significant change in less than a generation. Computer science is a rapidly advancing field; educators have to make those changes if they are going to prepare their students for the modern world. Trying to teach a subject that’s ever-changing might feel a little intimidating to some teachers, especially if they don’t have a background in the field. Fortunately, the skills students learn in computer science are evergreen, and many of the changes within the field are manageable for the educators involved.

Here are three keys to preparing to teach this dynamic subject without feeling like the ground is constantly shifting under your feet.

Don’t be intimidated by “new” technology. It’s probably a lot like the old technology.

As our knowledge grows, technology advances, practices change, and programming languages fall out of favor in different industries. At any given time, different languages are in use for different purposes. Some industries rely heavily on Python, while others might program in JavaScript. As technology changes and grows, new needs emerge and new programming languages are developed or adopted to meet those needs.

Differentiating instruction is not a new approach to bridging the varying learning styles of students with different backgrounds and learning abilities. For years, educators have strategized how to differentiate instruction in math, ELA, and science. Countless articles and books offer best practices for differentiation in those subjects, but comparatively, very little has been written about differentiating computer science instruction. 

I believe computer science is more important than ever. In the age of artificial intelligence, the study of computers and computational systems—including their theory, design, development, and application–represents a new frontier in science. 

New fields in computer science seem to emerge each day and now include computer systems and networks, security, database systems, human computer interaction, vision and graphics, numerical analysis, programming languages, software engineering, bioinformatics, and theory of computing.

But how does a computer science teacher differentiate instruction in this increasingly important topic?  At the Florida high school where I teach, we offer a rigorous computer science program that offers three courses: Exploring Computer Science, AP Computer Science Principles, and AP Computer Science A. 

North Dakota has become the first state to require computer science and cybersecurity education for all K-12 students.

Gov. Doug Burgum and North Dakota School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler celebrated the governor’s signing of HB1398, which requires the teaching of computer science and cybersecurity and the integration of these content standards into school coursework from kindergarten through 12th grade. Baesler said North Dakota is the first state in the nation to approve legislation requiring cybersecurity education.

“Today is the culmination of years of work by stakeholders from all sectors to recognize and promote the importance of cybersecurity and computer science education in our elementary, middle and high schools,” Baesler said at the bill’s signing ceremony on March 24.

“Our vision is to integrate and underscore the importance of computer science and cybersecurity instruction into the classes our students take as they move through our K-12 system,” Baesler said. “Under this bill, the information and knowledge our students need will be part of every grade level, which is appropriate when you consider the role that technology plays in our everyday lives.”

EduTech, a division of North Dakota Information Technology that provides information technology support and professional development for K-12 educators, will develop examples of cybersecurity and computer science education integration plans that may be used to assist local schools develop their own plans.

The evolving needs of the IT workforce are constantly discussed–even people who are far from it understand the constantly growing needs for computer science. And yet, U.S. high schools don’t consistently offer computer science education and IT classes.

Current situation

According to CSTA reports, a little over half (53 percent) of U.S. high schools offer a single computer science course–a fundamental subject critical to the nation’s economic and security health. Modest yet significant growth is being observed–in 2018 this index was 35 percent.

Some schools’ computer science education programs are shrinking due to budget issues. School administrators do not see computer science education as a necessary skill for teaching students. Minnesota (only 43.5 percent) and Louisiana (45.8 percent) have the fewest number of students who attend schools that offer foundational computer science courses.

CSTA research also found significant differences in access to computer science education across different social groups. For example, rural and urban schools, such as schools with a large proportion of economically disadvantaged students, are less likely to offer computer science. There is also a trend related to ethnicity: Black/African American students, Hispanic/Hispanic/Hispanic/Latino students, and Native American and Alaska students were less likely to attend a school that offered it.

What’s missing in American high schools for the development of computer science education at this level?

Lack of curriculum resources 

Since there is not always a clear answer to the question of what graduates should know after completing a computer science course, finding resources can be very difficult. Often this choice falls on the teachers themselves.

Currently, only 14 states have adopted the ACM and CSTA standards for high school computer science, and only 10 allow them to be credited for graduation. Only 1 out of every 10 schools teaches programming, and in most schools computer science is not a required part of curriculum.

However, 65 percent of teachers believed that existing CS curricular resources met the needs of a diverse student body.

Lack of hardware/software resources

Thirty-five percent of teachers said they didn’t have the materials, supplies, equipment and space needed to teach computer science. There is no single program; no resource requirements. In general, to program in Python or Java, a computer is enough–sometimes internet access would not hurt. However, it will be much more convenient for students to learn programming with the help of specialized software, in convenient integrated development environments, with online materials, and so on. Finding all this in schools can be challenging.

Lack of appropriate assessments

How to assess student knowledge? Because there are no uniform requirements, it is very difficult to adequately evaluate students. If there is an enthusiastic teacher who has developed a program on their own, they usually have a few followers who are very interested in it. For example, in one school in Illinois, a teacher developed an elective program in robot programming. As a result, two students created a controlled robot, while the rest limited themselves to typical tasks. Of course, it is difficult to evaluate them equally.

Coding and robots are both natural tools for encouraging collaboration in the classroom. At Sewickley Academy, we have taken that collaboration to the next level by having Grade 5 students step into mentoring roles for our kindergarteners who are just being introduced to computer science. Here’s how we did it.

From Reading to Robotics

Recently, our PreK through Grade 12 independent school has been working to include more computer science opportunities across all grade levels. These classes are a distinguishing factor of a Sewickley Academy education.

When students, especially our youngest learners, work with robotics, they are learning coding skills through what they see as fun play. With the excitement of bringing these little robots to life, they often don’t realize that they are learning foundational concepts and skills that future STEM learning will build upon.

We started with one KIBO, which is a modular robot designed to be used in education. KIBOs can be programmed visually using wooden coding blocks printed with various movement and behavior commands. They are great for students who are still learning to read and are a fun and easy way to bring robotics and coding into the classroom with our youngest learners.

Grade 5 and kindergarten homeroom teachers had already been working together to pair the older students with younger learners to read to them. Both groups of students were thoroughly enjoying the partnership and it seemed natural to progress from reading to robotics. The kindergarten teachers asked the Grade 5 students to first explore the robot, then help their younger buddies participate in the experience. We purchased enough KIBO kits to allow 10 teams to code and play together.

Off and Running

Grade 5 just leapt into their leadership positions. We explained to them that, though the robots were designed for little children, the concepts underlying them are the same ones underlying exciting technology like self-driving vehicles. Some of them said, “Oh yeah, my dad works on self-driving cars,” and they all seemed to understand and go right for it. In the classroom, they embraced the opportunity to serve as mentors and take responsibility for their little buddies.

We had a Remake Learning night with a computer science focus last year, and some of the Grade 5 students volunteered to show off the robots. Just as with their kindergarten buddies, Grade 5 encouraged the visitors to experiment with sounds, light, and motion, playing together to accomplish their own objectives. The children and their parents who attended were so excited to join them and discover what they could do.

Our kindergartners also loved the buddy program. Because we have 10 robots, the classes had to take turns. In the beginning, when one group had their first visit while others were still waiting, the kindergarten students were anxious to work with their buddies: “When is my buddy coming?” They were excited about the robots, certainly, but the relationship with an older student was also a very big deal to them. Students learn differently in a peer-to-peer situation: The kindergartners hung on every detail the fifth graders shared, and the Grade 5 students eagerly stepped up to maturely guide their buddies.

Exceeding Expectations

Pairing the kindergartners with Grade 5 mentors not only kept them engaged, but it also encouraged them to push their coding skills farther by tackling bigger problems than they might have otherwise done in an environment of only younger children.

For example, the kindergarten students have small stuffed animals in their classroom that they just love, and they wanted to mount one on the robot’s art platform. Some of the Big Buddies helped them figure out how to attach it, and then they all worked together to program their animal robot vehicle to drive around the classroom.

Other children wanted their robot to leave the room and go outside, which included turning, driving out the door, and navigating down a big step. To help the robot negotiate the step, they made a ramp out of a book, then programmed the robot to roll down the ramp outside. It was actually a fairly complicated journey, based on quite a complex algorithm for young students to undertake.

Looking to the Future

The year this program started, we did not have dedicated time in the Grade 5 schedule for learning how to code and use the robots. Their teachers were extremely generous in finding time for their students to spend with me learning how to work with KIBO.

Both the kindergarten and Grade 5 teachers who participated saw big benefits for their students. These include Grade 5’s pride in positive leadership and the kindergartners’ desire to learn. With PreK through Grade 12 on one campus, our administration encourages work across divisions and disciplines. Computer science instruction with the Big Buddies program is a great example of the effectiveness of this initiative. We are preparing for our first buddies’ visit of  2022-2023 and expect to further enhance the program this year.

For example, Grade 5 is currently learning to code in Scratch. They used this programming language to create an animation about something important to them, such as a sport they love or their favorite animals playing. They will share this work as a way of introducing themselves to their new kindergarten partners when they meet.

Additionally, rather than teaching small groups of kindergarten students a few basic ideas about assembling and using the robots before meeting their buddies, as I did last year,  this year I will give their Big Buddies the responsibility to introduce the robots, including how to put them together and how to make them move.

As educators, it is our job to help students connect with the material we want them to learn. Sometimes the best way to do that is to get out of the way and let them connect with each other first.

Related:
Give teachers ownership to make computer science a success
Computer science classes have an equity issue–some NYC educators are trying to change that

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

Computer science teacher Shanua Newton-Rodriguez is hoping to lead by example. 

A woman of color who grew up in the Bronx, she wants to see more students who look like her learning Java, Python, web design, or other coding skills.

But for many students in the nation’s largest school system — particularly girls, Black students, and Latinos — by the time they get to high school, it’s too late. Many get turned off before they make it to the high-level courses Newton-Rodriguez teaches at the Bronx Academy for Software Engineering, or BASE. 

In the various computer science classes she leads this year, the number of girls ranges from just one to four. (Nearly 90% of the students at tech-heavy career technical education school are boys, Newton-Rodriguez said.)

“Some students don’t see themselves as programmers. They won’t take the first steps,” Newton-Rodriguez said. “It’s still taking some time, even for the adults, to validate computer science. It’s still seen as an elective.” 

Despite New York City’s 10-year plan to bring “computer science to all” students by 2025, equity remains a big issue, according to a recent report from New York University’s Research Alliance analyzing the program through the 2020-21 school year. 

Just 17% of schools were meeting the equity goals of reaching girls, Latinos, and Black students under CS4All, as the initiative is called. Schools that made bigger strides in building up computer science courses enrolled lower percentages of Black and Latino students on average, the report said, finding “persistent inequities” in access to computer science within and across schools. (Some schools saw a bit of a backslide in their computer science offerings most likely due to the pandemic stretching schools thin, but overall the city saw improvements toward equity goals, the report noted.)

“It’s not just about getting more seats in more classrooms. It’s also about representation,” said Cheri Fancsali, the report’s author and deputy director of NYU’s Research Alliance. 

To shift the culture in computer science classrooms, Fancsali said, educators not only need to emphasize the value of the subject, but also need to show how computer science can be a “tool for solving problems and issues in your own community and for social justice.” That also requires educators to think more “holistically” about computer science and embed it across disciplines, she said. 

Teacher training has remained a roadblock. While the CS4All initiative aims to reach 5,000 teachers through a two-week summer professional development session, more substantive courses have been sparse.

New York City is trying to address this through a program called “Computer Integrated Teacher Education” to help train more than 1,000 New York City teachers to integrate computing across subjects. The $14 million initiative, announced Monday, is funded through a public/private partnership with the education department, CUNY, Google, Robin Hood, and Gotham Gives, and is believed to be the largest effort of its kind in the nation, city officials said. The funding will cover scholarships for at least 800 teachers enrolling in the program as well as enable CUNY to design new courses. 

“We are focused on an ambitious goal to provide our students with a clear pathway to and preparation for a rewarding career and long-term economic security,” schools Chancellor David Banks said in a statement. 

Teaching culturally responsive computer science

For her part, Newton-Rodriguez — who last year was recognized with the Fund for the City of New York’s prestigious Sloan Award for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics – is doing what she can to get more students from underrepresented groups engaged in computer science. 

She talks about possible career pathways, or even ways to make pocket money, explaining that students in her user experience/user interface design class can make posters for their local pizza shops or religious organizations and charge $500 to $1,000 for their services. She embeds culturally responsive lessons in her classes, talking about “what happens if they are not there” contributing to top companies. For instance, she discusses how in the early days of Tesla, the camera technology used by the self-driving cars were not picking up pedestrians with darker skin tones, she said. 

“It’s trying to convince them why they are needed,” said Newton-Rodriguez, who worked as a graphic designer before becoming a public school teacher 17 years ago. 

She sees the possibilities of cross-discipline collaborations: For instance, a social studies lesson on Harriet Tubman could discuss what she could have done for the underground railroad if she had information technology, and what kind of problems that tech could have brought as well. But when she suggests giving computer science—related professional development to her colleagues, they push back, saying they have other topics to cover in those sessions, she said. And because it’s not a core subject, she can’t get a co-teacher to help her with students with disabilities, making it harder to differentiate and help students whose math skills need help.

She and other educators said that computer science training has to start when children are younger to give students a stronger foundation. Research has found that exposing young children to computational thinking is crucial to building future success in tech fields — and shaping early attitudes toward careers in technology — but a 2020 Center for Urban Future study looking at nonprofits running after-school and in-school programs, however, found relatively few of them focused on grades K–5.

Computer science teachers need peer support

While Newton-Rodriguez has helped her school build up its computer science program, including the Advanced Placement courses in the subject that she teaches, she also found a supportive community of computer science educators through Math For America, a nonprofit focused on connecting the city’s accomplished math and science teachers. Joel Bianchi, a computer science teacher at Energy Tech High School in Queens, said meeting colleagues through Math for America has been “life-giving,” since he had previously felt like he was on “an island” working on the subject matter.

New York State only created a license for computer science education a few years ago, Bianchi said, but there have been few pathways to get it. He’s in one of them, with about 60 other educators: a three-year-old free program through CUNY’s Hunter College for middle and high school teachers with other licenses to get a certificate for the subject.  

Bianchi — another winner of last year’s Sloan Awards for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics — created and taught a new AP Computer Science A course when he moved to Energy Tech in 2019. (AP Computer Science A focuses on Java and coding, while AP Computer Science Principles focuses on broader computing concepts.) The first year he taught the course, Bianchi had 10 girls and 10 boys, and the school received the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award.

But since the pandemic, the demographics have changed. This year, his course initially enrolled six girls. Three have since dropped it. (His school is also more than 80% male.)

“Almost every year I’ve had issues with really high performing girls feeling overwhelmed. And at the same exact moment, several underperforming boys feel completely confident,” Bianchi said. “I struggle with it … What are the things as a teacher I can control?”

He worries that female students hear messages that “subconsciously perpetuate the stereotype” that the course is too hard and technical, and he worries those messages start from a young age. 

He noticed that boys tend to speak over the girls in mixed gender groups, so he groups girls together. But the girls continue to struggle with feeling like they belong, and once one left this year, it was a domino effect. He tried to get ahead of it. When the students struggled, he had them go over and correct their tests, giving them a chance to learn from their mistakes and bump up their grades. (He even shared an article with his class last year about why girls excel in the classroom but boys excel in the workforce.)

“There’s a feeling in this particular class: It’s hard, it’s different from what you’re used to,” Bianchi said. “You’re gonna hit a wall. You’re gonna fail. And that’s OK.”

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education.

Related:
Give teachers ownership to make computer science a success
How to implement a districtwide K-12 computer science program

Well-intended computer science initiatives are often met with reluctance and resistance before they even get off the ground. Teachers may see the new initiative as “just another thing” on their plate or may feel ill-prepared to tackle an entirely new discipline.

To ensure a smooth transition to teaching computer science, campus and district leaders will need to empower teachers with ownership of the change, versus simply asking them to comply with it.

Here are a few tips to ensure that your teachers are provided with space, support, and resources that will help them confidently assume ownership over the implementation of computer science initiatives.

Finding Time Through an Interdisciplinary Approach

Time. It’s the first thing to roll off the tongues of educators when asked what they need to be successful. It may even sound cliche to mention it, but in the specific case of computer science integration, time is more than a conceptual constraint on teachers. When it comes to computer science integration, time presents an actual structural constraint that must be overcome.

The structure of the school day is already set. We start our day at 8:00 in the morning, and we leave at 3:30 in the afternoon. In between, an hour is spent on math, on reading, on science, and on all the other things that are important and necessary to attend to students’ learning and other needs.

When there are only so many hours in the day, it becomes nearly impossible to find time for computer science—despite its potential to inspire, motivate, and meaningfully engage students in really cool things.

Most schools already have some kind of specials rotation in which students spend some time each week on art or music or some other subject. Computer science could become another spoke in that rotation fairly easily, and many schools are already doing this.

The problem with this solution is that it doesn’t provide much time for computer science, and it also takes away time from the other areas studied during rotations.

Related:
How to implement a districtwide K-12 computer science program
How we created a computer science curriculum in 5 steps

With recent research showcasing the growing number of STEM-related jobs that will be available to our graduates in Indiana in the coming years, teaching computer science skills has become as important as teaching students how to read or do math. The state has recognized this importance by mandating that all schools incorporate computer science for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

As the career and STEM academy director for Barr-Reeve Community Schools, I helped our district integrate computer science into our K-12 students’ school days. Our program helps students develop essential skills for academic and professional success. I’ve learned a number of lessons along the way and hope districts across the nation can benefit from my experience.

Starting small

When creating a computer science curriculum from scratch, don’t try to get ahead of yourself and do everything at once. Instead, focus on finding a buy-in wherever you can to get your foot in the door, and then look to gain supporters along the way. Once you can start proving the benefits of adding computer science concepts into your school’s curriculum, more support from teachers, parents, and the school board will naturally follow.

For example, since we first introduced computer science themes into our elementary schools, our middle school teachers are now noticing that their new students are seeking more problem-based learning that stems from their early introduction to computer science skills. Now, our middle school teachers are computer science advocates looking for ways to weave in more CS themes into all of their classes—because this is what their students are excited about.

Empowering your teachers

Our program uses our existing staff, who were not previously computer science teachers. As a result, we provided our teachers with the support and tools they needed to feel comfortable teaching a new subject. Our goal was to meet our teachers exactly where they were and then reassure them that there were no expectations for them to be experts in this subject matter. We were on a journey together that would be a continuous learning process.

For us, empowering and supporting our teachers has been about finding the right resources. When we found Codelicious, a provider of intuitive K-12 computer science curriculum, we were grateful for the support along the way.

Even with a strict budget, limited teacher expertise in computer science, and the chaos of a pandemic, the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township (MSDPT) launched a comprehensive and engaging K-5 computer science curriculum for every student.

As an instructional specialist at MSDPT during the launch, I now understand how much collaboration, clever resource management, and hard work are required to run a successful K-5 computer science program. 

As computer science has been launched into the national spotlight, schools across the country are finding ways to integrate STEM themes into early education. Although we faced challenges at MSDPT, we were able to find solutions that fit our budget and empowered our existing faculty to teach this specialized subject with confidence.

Here are the steps we took to launch our program and the lessons we learned along the way.

1. Start small.

Launching a districtwide K-5 computer science curriculum was not a one-step process. Instead, we started small. First, MSDPT introduced a computer science course during a short summer enrichment program. Each class only had about 30 available spots, but these spots filled up each year in a matter of days. Once we saw how popular computer science was with our students and found out that Indiana had a computer science state mandate coming soon, we started to plan how to launch a more comprehensive K-5 computer science program. 

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts across the country have seen an influx of funding for student devices, internet access, and a variety of edtech tools. While equity of access is still a challenge in many communities, this new funding has advanced a unique opportunity for schools to create pathways to computer science education, overcoming some of the challenges that made it inaccessible to many students in the past.

When combined with many states’ adopting new computer science standards, the pandemic has the potential to accelerate K-12 computer science education across the country. Some schools will find it difficult to fit new computer science into an already busy daily schedule.

But there’s a fix! Educators across the country are working on curriculum to integrate computer science into core content areas, alleviating the problem of where to fit a new computer science course into the busy school day. Computer science education is also being used as a tool for gauging social emotional learning. When computing devices become available to all students, it becomes equally important for districts to have a plan for the types of programming environments and platforms students will use as they build CS skills across the grades. Computer science is quickly becoming another tool, like the pencil and paper, that students use to express themselves and to demonstrate mastery of content in unique ways. Here’s where I see these trends going in the new year.

Computer science education will be integrated into the core curriculum.

The move toward 1:1 computers for students has been underway for years, but the pandemic greatly accelerated the trend. Since the school closures that occurred in spring of 2020, many school districts have not only provided students with devices, but also hotspots and other tools to connect to the internet from home.

Giving every student a computer has streamlined the process for providing computer science lessons because there’s no need to schedule time in the school’s only computer lab or to check out devices from a shared computer cart. This practical change has made it easier to incorporate computer science lessons into core subjects taught across the day, like math and language arts.

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, and that means educators across the globe are still finding inventive and innovative ways to support and teach students in classrooms, during hybrid instruction, and in virtual settings.

The eSchool Media K-12 Hero Awards program, sponsored by Trox, recognizes the determined and dedicated efforts of educators throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Never before have educators been challenged and tested as they were, beginning in March 2020 and up until today, and never before has their resilience been more apparent. Administrators, technology leaders, classroom teachers, and educators in all roles have persevered as they taught each and every one of their students during a global pandemic.

Here, eSchool News highlights Nick Baskwill–one of its K-12 Hero Awards finalists. Keep reading to discover how this educator keeps learning going in the middle of a global pandemic.

Nominee: Nick Baskwill

Nominated by: Unruly Studios

What makes this nominee a hero?

Nick Baskwill works with hundreds of elementary, middle, and high schools across Nova Scotia to drive technology integration and the adoption of innovative tools for tech and computer science education. Since 2015, when the government mandated that computer science be integrated into grades K-8, Nick has spearheaded the adoption of computer science education across classrooms including with robots, microcontrollers, and block-based coding apps like Scratch. He understands how to introduce tools that make the subject feel relevant and approachable for both students and teachers, who often have never coded before themselves.

At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, Nick ran a pilot with Unruly Splats, a STEM learning tool that combines learning to code with active play. He ultimately helped 50 schools across Nova Scotia implement Unruly Splats to code and play games during in-person and remote learning and across subject areas including PE, math, and music.

Nick accomplished this impressive roll-out during a pandemic that continued to cause disruption to the regular school calendar through the end of the school year. He had to get creative to integrate computer science in a way that took into account periods of remote learning, challenges with student engagement, and teacher capacity for trying new things in the midst of uncertainty.

Nick demonstrates an infectious passion for technology and a deep understanding of how to drive adoption of innovative tech tools that enhance the curriculum students are learning on a daily basis.

Some of Nick’s top tips for technology integration include:

– First, conduct a pilot with invested teachers you know are excited about new technology and will give honest feedback.

– Provide training at the beginning and throughout implementation to ensure teachers feel supported and confident. This may include group onboardings, webinars, PD sessions, lesson plans, and prebuilt examples.

– Identify an objective goal that you can measure for success. For example, 80% use in schools throughout the period of your trial.

– Find ways to integrate the same learning tools in a cross-curricular manner to drive more student engagement and teacher buy-in.