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April 24, 2006
Looking Beyond the Sciences
The current focus on national competitiveness issues has done much to raise the level of discussion about the ways in which computing expertise is driving innovation in the new combinatorial sciences. Very little, however, is said about how computing can continue to drive new discoveries in the humanities.
In his recent speech about national competitiveness, President Bush pointed to supercomputing and nanotechnology as examples of computing-related innovations that are contributing to advancements across the sciences.
Genetic engineering and biomedical engineering clearly stand as primary examples of the important contribution that computing is making to innovations in science. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find any major new scientific or medical breakthrough that did not involve the critical use of computing technology at some phase of the development and testing of new processes, compounds, medications, or equipment.
In a recent article in the Communications of the ACM (April 2006, Vol. 49(4)), however, Argamon and Olsen point to the potential for computing to revolutionize the humanities. In specific, they refer to the ways in which computer scientists can provide critical knowledge that will allow the new generation of knowledge browsers to make more effective use of digital libraries. Computer scientists, they argue, can work with humanities scholars to develop new query interfaces that would represent, not just words, but meanings in context.
Other areas of social research are also being enriched by computing. One of the big topics at the first annual Qualitative Inquiry Conference, for example, was how computer software can be used to support the collection, organization, and analysis of data in qualitative research. These researchers, who are often on the cutting edge of social research, are embracing the tools that will help them discover patterns that provide answers about the most complex issues of our lives, communities, and societies.
To often, when asked about why students should study computing, I find myself drifting into answers about opportunities to make important contributions in the sciences, but Argamon and Oslen have given me an important reminder about the importance of recognizing the potential role of computing across the full spectrum of human existence.
Chris Stephenson
Executive Director
Posted by cstephenson at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2006
And the Winner Is!
Upon reaching CSTA's first birthday, we set out to determine how satisfied our members are with CSTA's services and member benefits. With help from Michelle Kitaoka from Georgia Tech, we used Survey Monkey to set up an extensive online survey. As a reward for taking the time to complete our survey, we offered an incentive. Every member who completed the survey was entered into a draw for a NavMan 100 Pocket GPS Locator.
And the winner is Joan Wheeler of Jackson Memorial High School in New Jersey!
Joan was one of 634 CSTA members who completed the survey, giving us a total response rate of 16.8%, which is very respectable for an online survey.
Apart from the chance to give away fun stuff, the survey also provided us with information about how our members perceive us, and how we can provide more valuable benefits in future.
One of the most important things that we learned is that we need to do a better job of letting our members know what their benefits are. Although the benefits are listed on the CSTA website and in the welcoming email we send to all new members, many members told us that until they completed the survey, they were not aware of the extensive list of resources and publications they can access. As a result of this feedback, we will be working on new ways to let members know about all of our member benfits.
We also learned that overall, member satisfaction is very high.
86.9% rated the CSTA website as Good-Excellent
79.1% rated the CSTA Voice newsletter as Good-Excellent
69.4% rated the CSTA Advocate blog as Good-Excellent
71.1% rated the relevance of the Advocate blog postings Good-Excellent
We also learned that both awareness of and satisfaction with our JETT/TECS workshops and the annual Computer Science Information Technology (CS&IT) Symposium are very good. A total of 63% of our members have been to a JETT/TECS workshop and 50% plan to participate in future workshops. While only 43% have attended a CS&IT symposium, more than 62% plan to do so in future.
More than half of our members (62.5%), however, have not used the ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science or its accompanying documents, and 89.2% have not used the K-12 Virtual binders, mostly because they were not aware that they even existed! The results are similar for access to the Careers Resource Center
Perhaps the most important thing we learned from this survey, however, is what we can do to make CSTA an even better value for our members. The top five new benefits our members have requested are:
1. more online computer science resources
2. a national conference on K-12 computer science education
3. an online discussion forum
4. classroom posters
5. brochures for students and parents
The good news is that we are currently working on every single one of these right now!
Posted by cstephenson at 05:02 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2006
Let's Celebrate Computer Science Education at our School
As I was walking past our school library this week, I noticed that this is Latin week. During the school year at Lake Highland Preparatory School we celebrate many events that have to do with different disciplines and I'm sure your school must as well. So, I was thinking that we should do something school-wide to celebrate Computer Science Education.
As a member of the Faculty Advisory Board for Microsoft Corporation, my first thought was to send this group an e-mail and ask them what we should be celebrating and when. Daryll McDade, who manages our group and is in charge of supporting computer science education for Microsoft, suggested a Grace Hopper day celebrating her accomplishments in the computer science field and gave me a link to the Seattle Girls' School. For the past four years, this school has celebrated Grace Hopper with a luncheon focused on visionary women in math, science, and technology.
After further research, I discovered that in 1994, Dr. Anita Borg and Dr. Telle Whitney organized a conference called The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. This conference, held every two years, celebrates the continuing achievements and contributions of women in computing. The first conference was held in Washington, D.C. and over 450 people attended. Last year, this conference had 900 participants and highlighted the impact and history that women have made, are making, and will continue to make on technology and innovation.
More research led me to a group of woman called the Hoppers which was started by Theresa Stowell and Teri Schiel who were both engineers for Microsoft Corporation and gathered women programmers together to form a group that would give Microsoft women a forum to discuss some of the challenges they confronted in the workplace.
Today, Hoppers has more than 1,600 members across every Microsoft office in the United States and overseas. Any woman who works at the company and supports the Hoppers charter can be a member, regardless of job title or employment status (permanent, contractor, vendor, intern or part-time). Microsoft funds Hoppers and contributes to its scholarship fund.
As computer science teachers, we know of the accomplishments of Grace Hopper and it seems fitting to honor this pioneer on her birthday which is December 9th. Unfortunately, this day falls on a Saturday this year but we could celebrate it on Friday the 8th as Computer Science Education Day.
Student activities could include an essay contest on the life of Grace Hopper or perhaps a contest for posters which could be displayed around school. In any event, Computer Science Education needs to be recognized and I ask that you join me in celebrating Grace Hopper on December 8th 2006.
Brian Scarbeau,
Computer Science Department Head
Lake Highland Preparatory School
Orlando Fl
bscarbeau@lhps.org
http://sws.lhps.org
Posted by cstephenson at 10:56 AM | Comments (2)
April 14, 2006
Working With Reporters
I have spent the last three days talking to reporters from the business and educational press about the new resources we created with IBM and it has been a really interesting experience!
Just to give you a little background, we began this project last Spring with funding from the IBM Foundation. IBM is very concerned about the dropping enrollment in computer science and when they asked CSTA what teachers needed most, we told them: "Good, classroom-relevant teaching and learning resources designed by people who have actually taught in K-12." And so IBM not only gave us funding to create three new resources, they contributed three people for our team of six curriculum specialists.
The team met for four very intensive days this past August, where they reviewed an extensive collection of existing resources, chose three they wanted to create, and designed and developed them. After an intensive team critique of each resource (which led to a number of revisions) the resources were pilot tested in actual classrooms. More enhancements were then made based on teacher and student feedback.
As part of the roll-out for these resources, I have spoken to many reporters in the last three days, and I have learned three really intriguing things from them.
1. The crisis in computer science is finally becoming big news. Both the trade reporters and the education reporters know that there is a connection between K-12 computer science education and the high tech industry, and between the health of the high tech industries and national economic survival in the new global economy.
2. Reporters are really surprised to hear that people think there are no jobs in computer science.
3. Reporters are pretty sophisticated people and they understand the difference between doing something because it is the right thing to do and doing something to sell a specific piece of hardware or software to schools. What really interested them about this project was that nothing we created was tied to an IBM technology. It was about supporting K-12 computer science education, not pushing product.
So here's to reporters who write stories about the importance of K-12 computer science education.
Here's to IBM, for caring, for getting it, for helping us do something good and useful for teachers, and for being a great corporate partner!
And here's to our new resources:
Project-Based Learning Module
This learning module provides teachers with an overview of Project-Based Learning (PBL) and is intended for use as a professional development resource. It includes two Powerpoint presentations, each offering a slightly different approach to the topic, and several additional documents and resources that include reflections, sample worksheets and templates, and links to additional readings and project samples.
Web Site Design Learning Module
This learning module introduces students to the principles of web site design and includes a series of four lesson plans and student activities handouts. It is intended for students with a level 1 or 2 basic understanding of the Web.
OO Design Using Pong Learning Module
This learning module features an object-oriented implementation of the classic video game, Pong. Students will design and implement Pong using object-oriented programming concepts. This resource is intended for use by beginning Java programmers, but includes suggestions for enhanced learning for more experienced students. Teachers should have experience working with an object-oriented Java program using multiple classes, such as College Board’s Advanced Placement Marine Biology Case Study.
You can now download each or all of them directly from the Recommended Resources section the CSTA website or from the IBM Academic Initiative website.
Chris Stephenson
Executive Director
Posted by cstephenson at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2006
Interesting Answers About Minority Student Under-representation
The other day I was talking to Geoff Sutcliffe at the University of Miami about a grant proposal he is working on that cleverly combines JETT workshops for teachers with funding for students who want to major in computer science or mathematics. Considering the cost of education these days, this sounds like a great idea to me, and according to a new report from the American Council on Education, Geoff may actually be addressing the key problem behind the under-representation of minority students in our field.
An interesting new report from the American Council on Education is shedding new light on why there are fewer Black and Hispanic students who graduate with university degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Contrary to the commonly-held belief that many minority students are simply not interested in these fields, the study indicates that Black and Hispanic students are about as likely as their white and Asian-American peers to enter college interested in majoring in the STEM disciplines.
The report, "Increasing the Success of Minority Students in Science and Technology," is based on a longitudinal study in which the U.S. Department of Education collected data over six years on the progress of 12,000 students who began college in the fall of 1995. The initial sampling of entering freshmen found that 22.7% of Hispanic and 18.6% of black students entered college interested in the STEM fields, compared with 26.4% of Asian-American students and 18% of white students.
It revealed that while Black and Hispanic students were just as likely as other students to get though the perceived gatekeeper courses in the first year, they seemed to run into trouble in their third year, and by the end of their sixth year of college, just 62.5% of those who had still been in STEM fields as of 1998 had obtained degrees in those areas, compared with 94.8% of Asian-American and 86.7% of white students who had remained in those fields.
Among the results of the study, these three stood out particularly for me.
* Nearly 42% of those who earned a degree in a STEM discipline on time had taken a highly rigorous curriculum in high school, compared with just 18 percent of those who did not finish on time.
* More than 64% of those who completed such degrees had at least one parent with at least a bachelor's degree, and 47%t came from families with income levels in the top third nationally. Of the students who failed to earn their degrees on time, 38% had at least one parent with at least a bachelor's degree, and 28% came from the wealthiest third.
* Of the students who graduated on time, 38.5% had received financial-aid grants exceeding $5,000 as freshmen, and 27.1% had worked more than 15 hours per week. In contrast, just 7.6% of the students who failed to obtain STEM-field degrees on time had received financial-aid grants of $5,000 or more as freshmen, and 42.6% had worked more than 15 hours a week.
What this tell us is that:
* Good high school courses matter
* Family matters
* Money matters
Much of our effort at CSTA is focused on convincing students that computer science is a rich, diverse, and rewarding field, one worthy of their dreams and their effort. And this is true. But what is also true is that to convince a child to dream and then not provide her or him with the tools to achieve that dream is not just unfair or unwise, it is cruel and irresponsible.
This is why we need to work together to make our programs more accessible to all students. This is one reason I hope that Geoff gets his grant.
Copies of the report can be ordered for $22 (plus $6.95 shipping and handling) from the ACE Fulfillment Service, Department 191, Washington, D.C. 20055-1091, or by calling (301) 632-6757.
Chris Stephenson
Executive Director
Posted by cstephenson at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2006
Support Your Local Teachers
Since our keynote address at SIGCSE in Houston last month, Chris and I have had an influx of people -- both at the K-12 and at the post-secondary level -- contact us to find out how they can best help CSTA and its mission to strengthen K-12 computer science education.
As we pointed out in our talk, one of the biggest problems facing K-12 computer science teachers is that they are typically a "department of one" in their schools. They have no community of colleagues with whom to share ideas. They feel that they are the lone voice for computer science in not only their schools, but often in their districts as well.
If you are a college or university educator, here's one way you can help out your colleagues in K-12. Get in touch with the computer science teachers at your local schools. Invite them to an evening get-together where they can meet their fellow teachers in computer science.
When planning a local meeting, here are some ideas to help get you started:
1) Keep the meeting short. K-12 teachers are extremely busy people. After they go home, they'll probably spend an hour or two grading papers or preparing for the next day's classes. Use their time wisely. A good meeting will last about an hour, ninety minutes maximum.
2) Have some sort of presentation. This doesn't need to be long (thirty minutes tops) or even extremely formal (but it should be prepared in advance rather than off-the-cuff). For example, you might share a nifty assignment or an interesting teaching technique, tour the university computer science research lab, or demo some captivating samples of student work. As your meetings progress over the year, get everyone involved and let the ideas flow from *within* your community!
3) Allow time for everyone to get to know each other. While you should spend a couple of minutes on formal introductions, the vast majority of this time should allow for people to network and just chat. It's also good to have some of this informal time at both the beginning and end of the meeting (the time at the beginning accommodates those late arrivers who get stuck in traffic; the time at the end allows for discussion of the presentation).
4) Provide food! Not only is it a good attendance motivator and helps to relax people, but it also provides dinner for those busy, busy teachers (see #1 above).
Let us know how CSTA can help you facilitate this process. Strengthening our interactions as a community of computer science educators will not only benefit all of us individually, but will improve computer science education as a whole.
Finally, write and share your stories! Your successes will inspire others.
Robb Cutler
Chair, CSTA
P.S. And if you're a K-12 teacher reading this, contact a computer science professor at your local college or university. Tell them about this article and ask them to help!
Posted by cstephenson at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)