Computer Science Teachers Association: Announcements Archives

June 24, 2008

New Journal From SIGCT

ISTE's Special Interest Group for Computer Teachers (SIGCT) has announced the rebirth of its journal, which is aimed at enhancing precollege computing instruction. JCT is a K-12 oriented online periodical where the emphasis is on teaching about computing.

The name for the publication was formerly the Journal for Computer Science Education. Starting with the spring 2008 issue, the title was changed to the Journal for Computing Teachers (JCT), which is more indicative of the scope of SIGCT and JCT. Besides the name change, the previous practice of posting papers as they became available was replaced with several issues a year containing multiple papers and other materials of interest. A third change is that JCT is now available to everyone. Previously you had to be an ISTE member in order to access the publication. Now everyone has direct access to JCT. This change will dramatically increase the size of the readership.

Submission topics include but are not limited to:
* Academic and research articles relating to the teaching of computing in K-12 education
* Pedagogical articles describing and explaining the rationale for some teaching practice, approach, or lesson
* Theoretical articles explaining or arguing particular principles or models of learning, teaching, curriculum development, content perspective-taking, etc.
* Explanatory articles providing teachers with professional development information (e.g., understanding hardware and software, conceptual understanding, etc.)
* Reports concerning computing (e.g., curriculum and policy recommendations)

Submissions are either editor reviewed or peer reviewed. The author decides which one. In the “editor reviewed” process, articles are reviewed by the editor. In the "peer-reviewed" portion of the journal, manuscripts are acknowledged by the editor upon receipt and, after a preliminary review to judge their appropriateness for JCT, are sent to at least two members of the Editorial Review Board. Following the completion of the review process, the editor contacts the author(s) to accept the paper for publication, to accept the paper conditional on the completion of any recommended revisions, or to reject it.

For additional information about the journal and submission guidelines for authors, go to http://www.iste.org/JCT. Potential authors do not have to be members of ISTE or SIGCT to publish in JCT. The submission deadline for the fall 2008 issue is September 1, 2008.

Also, members for the Editorial Review Board for the Journal for Computing Teachers are sought. Your name would be included in the list of members of the Editorial Review Board. The quality of JCT’s peer review process is reliant upon the efforts of qualified professionals.

For further information on submitting papers and/or the Editorial Review Board, contact:

John Thompson, PhD
Editor, Journal for Computing Teachers
thompsjt@buffalostate.edu

Posted by cstephenson at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)

New Computing Journal from SIGCT

ISTE’s Special Interest Group for Computer Teachers (SIGCT) has announced the rebirth of its journal, which is aimed at enhancing precollege computing instruction. JCT is a K-12 oriented online periodical where the emphasis is on teaching about computing.

Submission topics include but are not limited to:
• Academic and research articles relating to the teaching of computing in K-12 education
• Pedagogical articles describing and explaining the rationale for some teaching practice, approach, or lesson
• Theoretical articles explaining or arguing particular principles or models of learning, teaching, curriculum development, content perspective-taking, etc.
• Explanatory articles providing teachers with professional development information (e.g., understanding hardware and software, conceptual understanding, etc.)
• Reports concerning computing (e.g., curriculum and policy recommendations)

Submissions are either editor reviewed or peer reviewed. The author decides which one. In the “editor reviewed” process, articles are reviewed by the editor. In the “peer-reviewed” portion of the journal, manuscripts are acknowledged by the editor upon receipt and, after a preliminary review to judge their appropriateness for JCT, are sent to at least two members of the Editorial Review Board. Following the completion of the review process, the editor contacts the author(s) to accept the paper for publication, to accept the paper conditional on the completion of any recommended revisions, or to reject it.

For further information on submitting papers and/or the Editorial Review Board, contact:

John Thompson, PhD
Editor, Journal for Computing Teachers
thompsjt@buffalostate.edu

Posted by cstephenson at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)

May 05, 2008

Two New Resources for Information Sharing

ACM's SIGCSE conference is always a great place to meet people doing interesting projects and creating new resources that may be of interest to teachers and students. Over the last year, CSTA has been building up a collection of podcasts featuring people and project we think will be of interest to our members.

Here are two new addition to our podcast collection that you can check out at:

http://csta.acm.org/Resources/sub/Podcasts.html

The CSTA Web Curriculum Repository
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 7 min.
Interview Location: ACM Sigcse 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008
Joe Kmoch, Milwaukee Public Schools

The CSTA Web Repository is a dream come true for busy CS teachers. To promote the sharing of resources among members of the community, CSTA developed a searchable database of K-12 CS instructional materials, lesson plans, and other resources that have never before been collected in one place for use by all CS teachers.

While anyone may browse the repository by curriculum classification or search by keyword, title, author, or publication date, only CSTA members may download the actual resources.
Teachers who wish to contribute original materials, for which they have the copyright, are encouraged to submit.

In our visit, Joe Kmoch describes what you’ll find in the Repository, how to get to it, and how to contribute your own teaching materials. Be sure to visit the CSTA Web Repository to jump-start your next teaching lesson and please consider sharing your good ideas with your colleagues at http://csta.acm.org/WebRepository/WebRepository.html.

The Computing Educators Oral History Project with Vicki Almstrum
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 10:30 min.
Interview Location: ACM Sigcse 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008
Vicki Almstrum, University of Texas at Austin:

Vicki and her colleagues are venturing into uncharted waters and the result of their work has the potential to impact an entire generation of young women curious about how their life might unfold as a computer scientist. The Computing Educators Oral History Project is a growing collection of audio interviews with women computing educators. "This endeavor will eventually create a body of narratives to serve as role models to attract students, in particular women, to computing; it will also serve to preserve the history of the female pioneers in computing education."

In our visit Vicki describes the impetus for the project and explores ways that teachers might use the interviews to create teaching opportunities for retaining and supporting individuals at all stages of the pipeline. The interviews are available at www.ceohp.org.

Pat Phillips,
Editor, CSTA Voice

Posted by cstephenson at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2008

Cool New Podcasts for Teachers and Students

Over 1000 computer science educators gathered recently in Portland Oregon for the 2008 ACM Sigcse conference, giving us a chance to interview more people thinking and doing interesting things for our CSTA Snipits podcast collection

The 39th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education provided a wide selection of technical sessions and opportunities for teachers to network and to learn. The topics ranged from innovative strategies for increasing classroom diversity to hands-on techniques with applications and curriculum. I love the excitement of SIGCSE, the opportunities to catch up with friends, and the discovery of new and innovative teaching strategies. I managed to catch up with a few presenters and participants who I thought you would value hearing from.

Check out our growing CSTA Snips podcast collection and listen in on these new conversations about teaching and computer science at:

http://csta.acm.org/Resources/sub/Podcasts.html

Using Mario Brothers to Teach Inheritance Concepts with Terrence Mason and Bruce Johnston
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 8 min.
Interview Location: ACM Sigcse 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008
Terrence Mason and Bruce Johnston, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Bruce and Terry have a goal in their CS1 course to reduce the “excitement deficit” found in many beginning computer science courses. In our visit they describe how they use a familiar computer game to teach inheritance concepts and to reduce that deficit. The project worked so well that students were heard cheering at their own programming successes. Now that’s something to look into!
While inheritance is generally a difficult concept for beginning students to master, it remains an important CS concept to teach for the utility and power it brings to CS. The familiarity of the game functionality enables students to more easily comprehend the topic, identify objects, and construct the inheritance hierarchy. More information is available at http://www.cfkeep.org/html/snapshot.php?id=27944194178976

Teaching Students about Electronic Privacy with Flo Appel
Medium: MP3
Listening Time: 9 min.
Interview Location: ACM Sigcse 2008 Portland, Oregon
Interview Date: March 2008
Florence Appel, Saint Xavier University

Why is it most important for educators to teach about privacy issues? How do educators teach these concepts? How do we get our students to value their privacy? And how do we teach them to balance their privacy and security with convenience? As I listened to Flo, I found myself thinking that her words were valuable not only for me professionally, but also personally, as I deal with these modern-world issues. She describes how public spaces including the internet impact students, invade privacy, and ultimately, impact personal security. Recommended resources for parents, teachers, and students are available at the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov/kidzprivacy/).

Pat Philips
CSTA Podmeister

Posted by cstephenson at 06:12 PM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2008

CSTA Sad to Lose a Much-Loved Member

We were very sad to receive the following email from our friend Don Allen about the passing of a much-loved CSTA member.

It is with an incredibly sorrowful heart and tears in my eyes that I must report that the teaching profession and the world has lost a wonderful human. Within the past two days, Dave Wittry while training for a triathlon became distressed while swimming. A fellow swimmer was able to get Dave to shore but rescue efforts to revive Dave failed and he was pronounce dead.

I had the privilege of working with Dave for several years at Troy High School and can attest to the fact that as helpful as he was to those posting question, he was order of magnitudes better in person.
I consider one of the greatest privileges of my life to have work and an even greater honor to have known Dave.

As I get information on any memorial services (Dave grew up in the Chicago area and I believe there will be a service in that area), I will pass on any information as I get it. I also understand a memorial service is possible in Orange County, CA. Once again, I will pass on any information as soon as I get it.

Please feel free to email me for more information at big_zero@hotmail.com.

In addition, Dave's mom has asked anyone with pictures or stories to please email her at helen@helenWittry.com.

Posted by cstephenson at 04:36 PM | Comments (0)

December 17, 2007

Gaming Conference Open to High School Teachers

The last two winters Microsoft and Microsoft Research have partnered to host a conference on game development in computer science education. This year, for the first time, Microsoft's Alfred Thompson reports that he has been given leave to create a special high school computer science track for the conference and to encourage high school teachers to attend.

Between the academic papers and the support through attendance and participation of commercial game development and game tool creating companies, the Microsoft Academic Days on Game Development in Computer Science Education conference has become one of the much anticipated conferences of the year.

In the past, the conference has been attended by only a small number of high school teachers. This new track, however, should make it much more accessible and interesting for teachers. Thompson says he is still working on the track but already there are some great things lined up that will make this a valuable experience.

The current list of confirmed GDCSE 08 general session and tech talk speakers includes people from the Alice project at Carnegie Mellon, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and Bungie (the people who create Halo). A large number of university faculty will also be talking about how they use game development to teach computer science concepts. Beyond that the networking possibilities are amazing. Here is a chance to discuss how game development can be used to teach and attract students in computer science with some of the best in the field.

Please look at this page (http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7977046 ) for information on the conference and contact Alfred (Alfred.Thompson@microsoft.com) if you have any questions.

BTW High school teachers can get a 50% reduction in the cost of the conference. Oh, and did I mention that the conference is on a cruise ship leaving from Florida?

This year's conference is co-sponsored by ACM/SIGCSE and Electronic Arts.

Chris Stephenson
CSTA Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 03:14 PM | Comments (1)

July 10, 2007

Job For Curriculum Developer

We don't usually post these kinds of messages but the folks at GirlStart contacted us to let us know about an interesting job they have available. Here is the job description. Please contact the folks at GirlStart for more information.

Wanted: Contract Educator to create cutting-edge curriculum. Girlstart’s Project IT Girl program (www.girlstart.org/itgirl/) needs fresh and creative lesson plans to introduce programming to high school girls. Ideal candidate must have a strong background in computer science and programming, the ability to explain programming concepts to novices in innovative and exciting ways, and the desire to expand the minds of young people. Ability to adhere to a tight timeline is a must.

Project IT Girl is an after-school program run by Girlstart in Austin, TX, for high school girls to provide hands-on training in math, science, and technology. The focus of the IT Girl program is on making a difference in the world and helping people to understand concepts through technology and information visualization. During the 2007 - 2008 school year, Project IT Girl participants will be introduced to programming through designing and creating short, educational games using Python and Pygame.

For a full job description, go to http://www.girlstart.org/jobs.asp. To apply, please submit a cover letter, references, resume, and hourly rates to Zakiyyah at Zakiyyah@girlstart.org.

Posted by cstephenson at 08:06 PM | Comments (0)

June 22, 2006

Interesting Summer Job

I don't usually post job notices, but I was speaking to Dawn Butler from Johns Hopkins University and they are offering a really interesting opportunity for computer science teachers looking for something interesting to do this summer.

The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY) has a sudden opening for a summer computer science teacher in Los Angeles, CA at their site hosted by Loyola Marymount University. It begins immediately and ends July 15. They will provide travel to and from the location, room and board at LMU, and a salary that ranges from $2,040 to $2,940 (depending upon education and teaching experience). A second position from July 15-August 5 is also available at nearby Cal Lutheran University and so the Center is willing to offer employment for the entire summer.

These three-week courses are designed for academically talented students ages 12-16 who took the SAT as 7th or 8th graders and scored at or above the mean for college bound high school seniors. Algebra 1 is a pre-requisite. There are 15 students in a class, and each instructor has a full time teaching assistant, usually a computer science major. Additionally, every instructor is paired with a teaching assistant.

More information about the course is available at: http://cty.jhu.edu/summer/employment/math_cs.html#fcps

Desired qualifications are a bachelor's degree and experience teaching computer science. Interested candidates should immediately email a resume to ctycarlos @jhu.edu or call him 410-735-6194 for more information. More complete information on the position is available at www.cty.jhu.edu/summer/employment/inst.html

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2006

New Brochure for Policy Makers on CS Education Needs

CSTA has issued a new policy brochure that aims to alert local, state, and federal policymakers to the fact that Computer Science education in America sorely needs attention, and provides information to help them convey the need for action.

Among the suggestions for policy makers to help communicate the need to improve computer science education are:

* Emphasizing that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills include computer science and not just using computers across the curriculum
* Asking what state and local school authorities are doing to ensure that students are acquiring the technological skills they need to succeed.
* Encouraging students to pursue computer science careers as an important source of the nation's leadership and competitiveness in the global economy.
* Explaining how outsourcing technology jobs can be combated by focusing on the education of future workers.

Policy makers are encouraged to assess the future needs of their states and to ensure that schools of education and on-the-job professional development opportunities are adequately preparing computer science teachers. They are also urged to prepare their communities for future opportunities by pointing to the resources of nonprofit groups like CSTA, that provide curriculum models and other supports to computer science teachers.

The brochures are being distributed through organizations representing policy makers, such as the National Governors Association, and through caucuses and committees of the US Congress and state legislatures that oversee technology education.

Chris Stephenson
Executive Director

Posted by cstephenson at 05:42 PM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2006

Introducing The 2006 Project Hoshimi Programming Battle

What is the Project Hoshimi Programming Battle?

The Project Hoshimi Programming Battle is a competition (exclusively for US high school students) that brings together an imaginative background story, comic-style graphics and fun programming challenges allowing students to compete online, with students from all over the country. Student will devise strategies and write code for navigating a team of nanobots through life-saving missions and objectives through a map of the human body.

This is a great opportunity for your students to learn the basics of game programming while further building their programming and problem-solving skills. Students will get the thrill of competing and interacting with students from across the country. We know that as Computer Science teachers, you're always looking for new ways to get and keep students engaged. Whether they compete or not, your students will have lots of fun and learn a lot about things like algorithms and object-oriented design concepts as they work with the Project Hoshimi SDK.

How does the competition work?

Teams of 1-2 students will write programs in Visual Basic 2005 (VB 2005) or Visual C# 2005 (C# 2005) to create an artificial intelligence strategy using the provided Project Hoshimi Software Development Kit (SDK). Once the submission period opens, teams will submit their entries to be scored and ranked (against other entries). Each team entry will be uploaded to a scoring server that will run the executable (DLL) file. The entries will then be ranked highest to lowest based on the success rate of the nanobots performance of prescribed tasks like evading enemies, collecting objects in the map, and achieving the mission objectives. The competition is open to US high school students 14 to 18 only. Each team must have faculty sponsor from their school.

How can you help your students get started?

The Project Hoshimi Programming Battle presents a great opportunity to teach students about game programming concepts like binary trees and min-max. To make it easier to introduce these concepts, we created a set of Teaching Objects that use the Project Hoshimi SDK. Each Teaching Object includes a technical article on the topic (for background), PowerPoint slides, sample code and exercises. You will be able to find the latest Teaching Objects in the MainFunction Project Hoshimi Resources library. All of these Teaching Objects and the Project Hoshimi SDK are compatible with both the full version of Visual Studio and Visual Basic 2005 Express.

Daryll McDade
Daryll.McDade@microsoft.com

Posted by cstephenson at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)