If you've been hanging around this blog or connecting with CSTA folks for any length of time, you've heard of the ACM's A Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science, a vision and broad outline of computer science education in grades K-12. This curriculum consists of four levels, the first of which is for grades K-8.

CSTA has been developing implementation documents for these levels, first for Levels II and III, and now for Level I: Foundations of Computer Science . The Level I framework is in its final stages of development, and the authors are asking for critical review and feedback.

This document provides an outline and objectives; it does not describe a single course but "a broad and integrated set of student learning outcomes, held together by a coherent concept of computer science for younger students...(It) can be the starting point for a teacher, school, district, or state to make computer science a vital part of K-8 education" (from the Level I Overview).

The subject matter is divided into twelve topics, which are grouped into three categories:

Computers and software applications
Topic 1: Parts of a personal computer
Topic 2: Standard software
Topic 3: Operating systems
Topic 4: Networks
Topic 5: World Wide Web and Email
Problem solving with computer science
Topic 6: Representing information digitally
Topic 7: Problem solving and algorithms
Topic 8: Computer programming
Social context of computing
Topic 9: Privacy and security
Topic 10: Evaluating and using information from networked sources
Topic 11: Human-computer interaction
Topic 12: Computers in society

Each topic is divided into grade ranges K-2, 3-5, and 6-8, with focus areas and sample activities in each range.

How can we teach these topics?

To support the ACM Model Curriculum, CSTA developed the CSTA Source Web Repository: K-12 Computer Science Teaching and Learning Materials. Level I resources in the repository were originally organized into six classifications, to match the 1998 version of ISTE's NETS (standards) for Students (ISTE 1998), plus one for "Algorithmic problem-solving tools."" However, to align with the new curriculum for Level I, we are currently reclassifying these resources, as we'll do with any new resources that are being added, to match the new topic list above.

Check them out!

P. S. The upcoming CS & IT Symposium (June 26, Washington, DC) also includes several sessions of interest to teachers in K-8: Making CS Happen in K-8, Scratching the Surface of Computer Science with Scratch!

Debbie Carter
Co-Chair, CSTA Professional Development Committee

We have started to put together a list of resources that have been vetted by our members, as well as information on programming language selection for courses. We have also shared information on related workshops in the area that our members might attend.

We were able to put on a very successful computer programming competition, hosted by the University of Washington in Seattle. A very capable member of our group was willing to relocate a contest she had planned to put on at her high school to the University of Washington. Members' industry contacts supplied us with many volunteer judges from industry. The University of Washington provided space, student-led tours of the Computer Science and Engineering facilities, some interesting lectures and lunch and snacks for the contest. Thanks to fast and efficient planning, the contest was a great success. We plan on repeating it in the fall and spring each year.

We are on meeting hiatus for the summer, but are planning a discussion on Alice 3.0 (if it releases on time) in September once we all return to school. We are also looking into other possible workshops and contests that we could offer to teachers and students, and will continue sharing information with our members, as well as other groups interested in what we are accomplishing.

We are a small team, but we are determined. There is a lot that we hope to accomplish, and we will over time.

Greg Kilpatrick
President
Puget Sound CSTA (pending chapter approval)

This semester I had some of my students create an activity for the Pleo robot from Ugobe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleo). These robots look like a baby dinosaur and act as if they are alive. They like to be petted and make noises to tell you if they are happy or sad. They have a color camera, a tilt sensor, sound sensors, and lots of touch sensors.

These robots are very engaging for both boys and girls. My research team tried the robots with several groups of elementary and middle school students. When they asked the kids what the worst thing about the project was the kids said, “ you made us leave the robots to go to lunch”. The robots can currently only be programmed using MySkit which is similar to Flash. Ugobe was working on a development kit in a C like language and had released a beta version of this environment. The biggest problem with the Pleos is the battery life. A fully charged battery only lasts about 1.5 hours and it takes 4 hours to fully charge.

Unfortunately, Ugobe has filed for bankruptcy. We bought 12 Pleos so that we can use them in our summer camps and outreach programs. Hopefully another company will buy the rights to these and continue this promising new direction in robotics. See http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt/943 for the materials my senior design team created for the Pleo.

Barb Ericson
CSTA Board of Directors

Wait, not so fast you say. What about next year? What about summer professional development programs? What about new textbooks, new programming labs, and new content? And, oh by the way, just what will I be teaching next year? No more AB level for my AP students. How many smiling faces will I see in September? What third prep awaits the unsuspecting Computer Science Teacher?

So goes the life of the high school computer science teacher. For many of us, teaching computer science is an avocation, not exactly a hobby, but certainly not our primary job. Many computer science teachers have two or more other classes they must teach in order to have that one section of AP or IB or just plain old Computer Science. How much effort is involved in our avocation as compared to our other classes? What can we do to better manage our time and control our destiny?

I don't have a solution. Unlike many of you, Computer Science has been my focus. However, looking ahead to the 2009 - 2010 school year, I see one section of AP Computer Science (20 students), one section of IB Higher Level Computer Science (6 students), 2 sections of Computer Programming with Alice (40 + students), and 2 sections of AP Statistics (40 + students). I see changes in both the AP and IB curriculum (though thankfully not major) and a new textbook (maybe one I can actually use). And don't even ask me about professional development this summer! Between AP, IB and CSTA commitments, I think I will get to relax for a week or two in August.

My school's total AP and IB examination numbers were up this year, over 1000 AP Exams and over 1200 IB exams (school population about 1800), and my AP and IB exam numbers showed some increase over past years. However, the Computer Science numbers are not growing as fast as other courses. We know there are major curriculum changes on the horizon for AP and IB Computer Science. How will that affect us?

What can we do? We need to be our own advocates, actively recruiting students by tying Computer Science to 21st Century Skills, touting the good jobs that are solving today's real-world problems in a collaborative environment. We need to break the stereotype of computer scientists as loner nerds who seldom bathe and eat only junk food. While that image sells movies, it isn't real and is hardly attractive to the kinds of students we want to recruit.

Where do we start? Join us in Washington, DC in June at the CS & IT Symposium (www.csitsymposium.org). Network with other computer science teachers to form professional learning communities, local CSTA Chapters, or just a valuable resource. Convince your guidance directors and building administrators that computer science is a viable career path for our talented students.

Personally, I intend to put my feet up, unwind, and enjoy the next few weeks as the school year winds down. Then, it's off on a whirlwind tour of the US, seeing old friends and making new in the pursuit of improving Computer Science education. Won't you join me?

John Harrison
CSTA Board of Directors

As part of our work on the CSTA Leadership Cohort, Sarah Huibregtse and I have been busy with many advocacy activities.

On May 7 and 8 at the Wisconsin Mathematics Council Annual Meeting, we assembled a strand of nine sessions - sort of a mini CS/IT Symposium. The most popular were the GameMaker, Website Development, Visual BASIC and the FANG game engine programming using JavaWIDE (25-30 at each). We had a great discussion at the certification session, which included one of the two DPI leaders for the statewide committee. The Robotics workshop featured four “play” stations, each with a different kind of robot. The sessions on Boolean Logic and on ideas to broaden participation were also great.

About a dozen teachers attended a session that focused on forming a state-wide CSTA chapter. After much discussion, we decided to develop a website where we could post materials from sessions like those at this meeting plus other potentially useful materials. We also discussed asking our statewide teacher organization to put together a one- day strand (it's a 2-day conference) dealing with CS and IT. Our immediate goal, though, is to continue to build our teacher network throughout the state.

Sarah and I have also been involved in a number of activities where a small group of us have been meeting with mostly guidance counselors in various parts of the state, trying to generate enthusiasm for CS/IT courses in their schools.

We also organized our 5th and 6th iFairs(sm), career fairs which feature an exhibit area set up in a trade show atmosphere. Businesses and a few post-secondary institutions sell IT and Engineering careers to visiting middle and high school students by showing how exciting and invigorating they can be. Over these 6 fairs, we had about 2800 student visitors from Milwaukee Public Schools. We're already planning out 7th and 8th fairs during the next school year. The general website for iFairs(sm) is

http://ifair.pbwiki.com

As members of the CSTA Leadership Cohort, we have also been involved with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in an attempt to establish a committee to deal with the original CS Endorsement certificate (from 1986) and to establish CS/IT standards for K-12. We continue to seek funding for this.

We also continue to involve groups of business leaders from Washington HS of IT, Milwaukee Public Schools Partnership, the Milwaukee Partnership Academy and PoweredUp in our attempts to expand the visibility of CS/IT in the schools throughout Wisconsin.

Finally through these groups and other contacts, we continue to involve a number of both two and four year post-secondary institutions in this quest.

Joe Kmoch
CSTA Leadership Cohort Member (WI)

The meeting had some wonderful talks. We heard from Vivian Lagesen who is researching why some countries, such as Malaysian, have a much higher percentage of women in computing than we do in western countries. She found several important differences.

1) The government ran a campaign to encourage women to enter computing fields.
2) The parents encourage the girls to enter computing fields.
3) The field is not considered to be a "male" field.

The researcher said that the women in Malaysia found it very hard to believe that computing is considered male in western cultures. They couldn't see why it would be perceived that way since you work indoors and sit. Roli Varma also told of research in India which shows that women there think of computing as a lucrative and female-friendly field. People who are in the field in India are considered to be smart and social.

Several speakers described projects that help the developing world. Bernadine Dias, the founder of TechBridgeWorld at CMU described the development of a low-cost digital device for blind kids to practice writing in Braille. It was very inspirational.

Joi Spencer talked about an intensive study into the differences between math education in the United States and other higher performing nations. One of the biggest differences was in how we teach math to students. In Japan for example the students are introduced to a new mathematical concept by leaning about a complex problem that they are asked to solve. The students spend many days thinking about the problem and trying to solve it in different ways. Then they might learn a new procedure for solving the problem. In the United States we first teach students the procedure for solving problems and have them practice but we rarely ask them to use it to solve a complex problem. Kids in the United States are also often taught that there is only one way to solve a problem. My own daughter, for example, gets mad at me when I try to show her more than one way to solve a math problem. She says, "the teacher wants us to do it this way."

NCWIT has also produced many high quality materials for teachers and parents. The Talking Points card, for example, provides suggestions and information for family members who want to talk to girls about computing. NCWIT also evaluates techniques for introducing girls to computing and have identified promising practices such as CS Unplugged, Scratch, Alice, and Media Computation. You might want to show your students some of the slides from some of the talks from this last meeting. You can download these resources and more from

http://www.ncwit.org

Barb Ericson
CSTA Board Member
Co-chair, NCWIT K-12 Alliance

The study, An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification was published in February of 2009. The study reported several interesting findings. Before I continue with my post, I must state that the study involved 187 elementary school teachers (kindergarten through 5th grade) in 20 districts in seven different states (not middle school or high school Computer Science teachers). However, the study findings certainly give one cause to pause and think.

The study reported that students of alternative certification (AC) teachers did not perform statistically differently from students of traditional certification (TC) teachers. There were some "average differences in reading and math, but the differences were not statistically significant." The study explained that there were many differences in the preparation and background of AC and TC teachers, including, required coursework, whether or not the teacher was currently taking courses, the teacher's undergraduate major, and the teacher's SAT scores, differences that exist among any group of teachers (or other professionals for that matter). The study reported that such "differences in AC teachers' characteristics and training experiences explained about 5 percent of the variation in effects on math test scores and less than 1 percent of the variation in effects on reading test scores." In other words, the teachers' characteristics and required coursework "were not related to the effects of teachers on student achievement." The study concludes that there was "no benefit, on average, to student achievement from placing an AC teacher in the classroom when the alternative was a TC teacher, but there was no evidence of harm, either." The authors note that, of course, individual teachers have an effect on student achievement. The authors were NOT able to identify what specific characteristics of individual teachers have an effect on student achievement.

Interestingly enough, the study also concluded that "There is no evidence from this study that greater levels of teacher training coursework were associated with the effectiveness of AC teachers in the classroom." The statistical analysis showed that there was no evidence that the amount of coursework required of AC teachers produced more effective teachers. As a life-long educator, this surprised me; however, after reflecting on my recent experiences with so many alternative entry teachers and the current state alternative licensing requirements, I thought perhaps educators aren't really approaching the AC teacher with an open mind. There are many truly outstanding AC educators in many different content areas.

The study further concluded that "There is no evidence that the content of coursework is correlated with teacher effectiveness." The study found no statistical correlation between student test scores and the content that the AC teacher had completed—including pedagogy and fieldwork. The authors state "there was no evidence of a statistically positive relationship between majoring in education and student achievement." That will certainly shake up conventional wisdom in the world of education. I'm not sure that I can even grasp the implications since one of the responsibilities of my current position is to plan the preparation needed for these alternative licensure teachers. At least I do have the educational foundation that many teacher education institutes are now embracing (in part due to NCLB). I have a bachelor's degree in my content area. I took education courses in addition to the BS degree requirements to obtain a teaching license. My master's degree is also in the content area rather than in education, and I had to jump through many hoops to add that content area to my teaching license (it's not quite as strenuous now!).

So, why would a school system want to dismiss all their alternative certification teachers? That's a very good question. I don't think that action would be prudent at all. I have come to the conclusion that we need to encourage and embrace alternative certification in all areas of education, but particularly in the areas of Computer Science (CS) and Information Technology (IT). What better preparation can a CS or IT teacher have than to have a degree in the content area and related work experience? What a wealth of knowledge and experience these AC teachers bring to the classroom! Who better than an AC teacher to help our students with authentic, rigorous and relevant learning in the 21st Century? What better time than a financial downturn than to encourage these well-qualified individuals to seek a second career in education? We need these well-qualified alternative certification teachers in Computer Science and Information Technology education—and we need them now. (CSTA has included alternative entry teachers in the recently published white paper, Ensuring Exemplary Teaching in an Essential Discipline: Addressing the Crisis in Computer Science Teacher Certification, available at http://csta.acm.org/Communications/sub/Documents.html.)

The research study, An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification, was conducted by Jill Constantine, Daniel Player, Tim Silva, Kristin Hallgren, Mary Grider, John Deke of the Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.; and Elizabeth Warner, Project Officer, Institute of Education Sciences. A pdf file of the research study can be found at the ISE, US Department of Education, website: http://ies.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=NCEE20094043.

Work Cited:
Constantine, J., Player D., Silva, T., Hallgren, K., Grider, M., and Deke, J. (2009). An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification, Final Report (NCEE 2009-4043). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Deborah Seehorn
CSTA Board Member

While some of the problems he outlines are outside our ability to fix, some of them are achievable. What do you think about his call to emphasize style over syntax and teaching theory before practice?

Michelle Hutton
CSTA President

For example, as a result of attending a TECS workshop during July 2006, I was introduced to Alice 2.0. I decided that my programming students needed to start with Alice because they begin AP Computer Science with no programming experience. It was a success. I feel that this has been one of the reasons I have been able to attract students to my class even with the increase in credit requirements for graduation.

Additionally, a recent conference I attended gave me insight into some resources that are available that make game development possible for beginning programming students. After the AP test on Tuesday, I plan to offer some beginning exercises in game development as one option for a project that I received at the conference. I also plan on demonstrating the lessons to teachers that attend my chapter's meeting in two weeks.

Another professional development opportunity that I look forward to is the CS & IT Symposium. I want to encourage anyone that has been thinking about attending the CSIT09 to register and attend. This year's schedule looks better than ever with many sessions that can inform and enhance your teaching resulting in enhancing your students’ educational experience. You can view the sessions and register for CSIT09 at:

www.csitsymposium.org

Myra Deister
CSTA Board Member

Dr. Klappholtz spoke to the group of high school teachers and college professors that were present about the overall low numbers of females in the computing fields and how the female point of view is necessary in the design and development of everything from consumer products to defense related systems. It is feared that the rate of production of software development will be far lower than necessary to fill job openings over the next five to fifteen years, especially given the baby boomer generation will be retiring soon.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a large increase in the need for B.S. and M.S. computing graduates in the next decade. The largest untapped pool of potential computing majors and, eventually, computing professionals, is science- and math-talented high school students, but only about 10% of entering undergraduate majors in computing majors are female. Despite the many initiatives aimed at attracting young women, the number of female computing majors keeps dropping.

Gender equity in computing has long been a national goal advanced by those concerned with fairness and by those who know that the female point of view improves the design and development of software systems. Unfortunately, though, the percentage of young women entering computing-related majors keeps falling, and the female dropout rate is higher than the very high male dropout rate

The intellectual underpinning of the RPRCC Initiative is a 35 year psychological Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) that followed 3,000 + MPYs from middle school into middle age. They focused on understanding the career and life paths of the MPYs. SMPY discovered that MPY females chose STEM fields involving organic things (fields involving people, helping people). Female MPYs have considerably higher verbal skills than MPY males, accounting for their preference for inter-personal interaction, rather than solo work. MPY males chose STEM fields involving inorganic things (fields involving machines, software development, computer hardware, physics, engineering, chemistry, abstractions).

The point of the initiative is to recruit young women into and to retain them in computing-related undergraduate majors. Only 30% of the typical software development project involves solo inorganic work (writing code). The majority of the remaining 70% has a highly organic, teamwork and interpersonal interaction based nature. Women are better at listening to what their client is saying and understanding what they want. This is especially true if the software's client/customer is a socially relevant agency (such as an adoption agency, a child-care agency, or a poverty agency).

The RPRCC Initiative is a based on courses in which students work in teams – initially on the 70% to produce real software for real clients. There are three aspects to the initative: The High School- Level (for recruitment), the Pre-Choice of Major (for recruitment), and the Post Choice of Major (for retention). For more information, contact Dr. David Klappholz at davidk6@gmail.com

Debbie Klipp
CSTA Leadership Cohort

At present, about 13% of CSTA's members live in countries other than the United States and as you might guess, the state of K-12 computer science education varies enormously from country to country as does the level to which CS teachers have organized themselves professionally. In some countries, there are already highly active organizations. Israel, for example, has a top-notch Computer Science Teachers Association which provides a wide variety of services for its members. In other countries, there are organizations which serve the needs of technology-using teachers, but which provide very little for computer science teachers. And in some countries of course, there is nothing at all.

Last week, I met with several members of the CSTA Board to discuss how we could best serve the needs of these international members. What we discovered is that the situation is even more complex than we thought. Not only do we have to ensure that whatever we do does not conflict with or undermine the efforts of local organizations and educators, we have to ensure that we protect CSTA from risk. For example, there is considerable fiscal liability associated with international chapters and, at this time, CSTA does not have the resources to manage this liability.

So we have decided for the present to put our efforts into building affiliate relationships with organizations that already exist in countries other than the U.S. and to providing expertise to interested members where no organization presently exists to meet the needs of K-12 computer science teachers. Our plan is to "package" the collective experiences and wisdom of those involved in setting up CSTA as an effective voice for CS teachers into a kit that teachers from other countries can use to set up computer science subject associations that will meet the needs of their teachers and students.

This is an ambitious project and it may take us a while to complete, but we believe that the potential for all parties is exciting.

Margot Phillipps
CSTA International Director

Writing across the disciplines is a focus at all levels of education. How can we incorporate writing into our computer science curriculum? What are examples of good writing assignments? How do we grade a writing assignment?

I find that the most successful writing assignments are those that give very specific requirements and offer some ideas for research. I try to follow the format below.

The Assignment: State exactly what you expect as a final product.
Example: You will write a 3-page paper (double-spaced, 11-12 point font, 1 inch margins) that addresses one (or more) of the topics listed below. The paper will be graded for content and clear presentation of material. This paper must have content that is supported by references; therefore, include bibliographic references. It should be your own work based on your research. The paper should be submitted (uploaded) by day and time.

Goals: Why are you assigning this paper?
* to explore concerns about topic
* to research a bit of history and some of aspects of the potential problems of topic
* to practice your writing skills by preparing a paper expressing your opinion about this topic based on your readings and research
* to take notice of your how your environment fits into the picture of your research

Possible Questions/Topics for Paper Focus: List here a few possible start points.
* Much of the controversy about topic focuses on something here. Why is topic such an important issue now?
* Topic can be an effective tool for learning because...
* Reflecting on the intersections of real-life and topic....
* What are the pros and cons (or advantages and disadvantages) of topic
* List the impact of topic as it relates to your chosen area of interest (art, literature, medicine).

Some resources: List at least 5 resources here.

Writing assignments take longer to grade than math problems but they are no more difficult to grade than computer programs. And, most times, the logic is easier to follow! Although the following procedure might take some time, I find it works quite well.

1. Require the student to complete an almost final version of the paper. This version should follow the requirements listed in the assignment.

2. Now conduct a peer evaluation. Pair your students. Have them swap papers. The goal of this peer review is to improve the paper. You can choose to do the peer review in a variety of ways, I alternate between the two listed below.
* Require the reviewer to complete a comment sheet that you provide. See the following url for an example. http://euclid.butler.edu/~sorenson/teaching/comments.html
* Have the reviewer list three things the paper does well and then offer three suggestions for improvement.

The peer reviewer is also responsible for checking that the paper meets all the requirements set in the assignment description. You can collect the peer review with the final version of the paper or you can informally read them over before the final version of the paper is due.

3. Base your grade on:
* content and correctness (most weight here)
* grammar and mechanics
* clarity and style

Presentation, both written and oral, should be an integral part of any course, including computer science. You may follow the written assignment with an oral presentation or the oral presentation can be a separate assignment on a second topic of interest. Some guidelines for giving (and grading) an oral presentation are listed below and can be found at: http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~johnson/teaching/research_skills/basics.html

The Presentation
Opening
1. Does your opening gain the group's attention?
2. Does it establish rapport with the group?
3. Does it indicate what you intend to explain?
The Key Points
1. Are your key points clearly expressed?
2. Are your examples interesting?
3. Are your qualifications of the key points clearly expressed?
4. Is each key point summarized?
5. Are the summaries clear?
6. Are the beginnings and ends of the key points clearly indicated?
The Summary
1. Does the summary bring together the main points?
2. Are your conclusions clearly stated?
3. Do you come to an effective stop?
Presenting
1. Can the group hear and see you?
2. Do you use eye contact to involve but not threaten?
3. Do you use audio/visual techniques effectively?
4. Are you fluent verbally?
5. Is your vocabulary appropriate for the group?
6. Do you make use of pauses and silences?
7. Do you vary your intonation?
8. Is the organization of your material clear?
9. Do you avoid vagueness and ambiguities?
10. Is the presentation as interesting as you can make

Students at all these levels need to communicate effectively. They must gain experience in reading and critiquing papers, both technical and non-technical. They should learn to organize knowledge in written form and be comfortable and confident with oral presentations. Students should to be able to evaluate their own work and openly defend their own ideas and opinions. It is our duty as teachers to help them learn the communication skills necessary to accomplish these tasks.

A few of my favorite writing assignments have been:

1. Electronic Voting Machines: Based on the HBO video Hacking Democracy. This is a great assignment to give around election time.
* The video Hacking Democracyis available at http://video.google.com/videosearch? q=%22hacking+democracy%22&hl=en#q=%22hacking+democracy%22&hl=en&emb=0
or do a Google Video Search for "Hacking Democracy"
* The story is available at http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/hackingdemocracy/synopsis.html

2. Job Outlooks:
Career overview:
http://www.careeroverview.com/job-outlook.html
http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco1002.htm

3. Second Life: I actually have my students sign up and create an avatar in Second life and then use the following outline:
Your paper should have a clear thesis and supporting discussion. You should include your own experience on Second Life. Some possible choices for topics (or choose your own area of interest):
a. Second Life can be an effective tool for learning because...
b. Artists in Second Life are making effective use of the medium by...
c. There are serious social implications of Second Life....
d. Reflecting on the intersections of real-life and "virtual" economies...
e. The virtual world of medicine has influenced....
f. Is Second Life a place for religious organizations to open virtual meeting places
g. Live music on Second Life enables....
h. Literature has taken an interest in virtual worlds and Second Life
Resources include:
Educators:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/11/13/second.life.university/index.html
Models of Learning:
http://secondlifegrid.net/slfe/education-use-virtual-world
Social Implications:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/13/second-life-divorce
Artists: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/magazine/08flunot.html_r=4&pagewanted=1&ref=technology
Medicine:
http://scienceroll.com/2007/04/16/medicine-in-second-life-virtual-doctors-hospitals-and-of-course-sperm-donation/
Information on grading writing assignments:
http://www.virginia.edu/french/resource/teachers/admin/write.htm
Example of a peer review comment sheet:
http://euclid.butler.edu/~sorenson/teaching/comments.html

Information and tips for oral presentations:
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~johnson/teaching/research_skills/basics.html

Fran Trees
CSTA Chapter Liaison

I have seen Scratch used in education in two places—both successfully. In a low-income community in South Los Angeles, the Computer Clubhouse provided urban youth assistance with Scratch and students created unique projects which incorporated their own images and music. Creating "low-riders" caught on as a popular activity. Computer science teachers I work with in Los Angeles public high schools have integrated Scratch successfully in their courses and report a high level of student engagement as students learn fundamental computing concepts. For either informal or formal computing experiences, Scratch is a wonderful way to introduce young people to computer science.

For Scratch Day events near you, check out the map at http://day.scratch.mit.edu/. If there are no events near you, consider hosting one. It's a great way to meet fellow educators interested in teaching students to use Scratch.

Scratch can be downloaded at:

http://scratch.mit.edu/

Joanna Goode
CSTA Board of Directors

The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) is the highest federal recognition award for mentoring in the country. The award is made to recognize individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to mentoring of students at any of several educational levels from underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Nominations can be made for individuals or organizations. Awards are intended as a symbol of recognition at the highest level and to highlight the achievements of individuals and organizations that serve important function of developing our future scientists, engineers and mathematicians.

Awardees are invited to Washington, D.C. for a visit to the White House, photos with the President (his schedule permitting), presentation of a citation signed by the President and a working session on mentoring at the National Science Foundation.

For more information about this award, go to:

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04525/nsf04525.htm#toc

The nominations deadline is April 21, 2009.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Daphne Rainey.

Daphne Y. Rainey,
Ph.D. Program Director
Division of Undergraduate Education
Education and Human Resources
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22230
Phone (703) 292-4671 FAX (703) 292-9015
drainey@nsf.gov

The course progresses from introductory work on web design to a culminating project in which students design and develop websites for local community organizations. The Units cover the following material:

Unit 1: Designing and Planning Web Pages
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1.htm
Module 1: Website Evaluation and Rubric Creation
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module1.htm
* Lesson 1: Surveying the Possibilities http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module1/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Developing a Website Evaluation Tool
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module1/lesson2.htm
Module 2: Color Theory
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module2.htm
* Lesson 1: Color Theory in Web Design http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module2/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Selecting a Color Scheme
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module2/lesson2.htm
Module 3: Web Standards & Accessible Design
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module3.htm
* Lesson 1: Web Standards
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module3/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: How People with Disabilities Access the Web
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module3/lesson2.htm
Module 4: Planning a Website
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module4.htm
*Lesson 1: Organizing a Website
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit1/module4/lesson1.htm

Unit 2: Creating Pages with HTML
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2.htm
Module 1: Pre-Coding
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module1.htm
* Lesson 1: Pre-coding
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module1/lesson1.htm
Module 2: Basic HTML Markup
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module2.htm
* Lesson 1: Elements of Tags
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module2/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Essential Tags
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module2/lesson2.htm
* Lesson 3: Common Tags
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module2/lesson3.htm
Module 3: HTML Lists
http//www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module3.htm
* Lesson 1: Unordered Lists
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module3/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Ordered Lists
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module3/lesson2.htm
* Lesson 3: Nested Lists
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module3/lesson3.htm
Module 4: Creating Links
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module4.htm
* Lesson 1: Linking to External Internet Sites
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module4/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Linking to Pages Within Your Website
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module4/lesson2.htm
* Lesson 3: Special Types of Links
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module4/lesson3.htm
Module 5: Creating a Data Table
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module5.htm
* Lesson 1: Creating a Data Table
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit2/module5/lesson1.htm

Unit 3: Formatting Web Pages with Style Sheet
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit3.htm
Module 1: Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit3/module1.htm
* Lesson 1: Anatomy of a Style
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit3/module1/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Applying Styles
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit3/module1/lesson2.htm
* Lesson 3: Applying Styles to Data Tables
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit3/module1/lesson3.htm
Module 2: Page Layout Techniques
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit3/module2.htm
* Lesson 1: Layout with CSS
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit3/module2/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Layout with Tables
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit3/module2/lesson2.htm

Unit 4: Graphics
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4.htm
Module 1: Introduction to Web Graphics
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module1.htm
* Lesson 1: Introduction to Web Graphics
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module1/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Copyright Law and Graphics on the Web
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module1/lesson2.htm
Module 2: Creating a Web Photo Album
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module2.htm
* Lesson 1: Understanding Web Graphics
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module2/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Acquiring Images for Web Graphics
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module2/lesson2.htm
* Lesson 3: Cropping and Resizing
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module2/lesson3.htm
* Lesson 4: Adding Images to Your Web Page
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module2/lesson4.htm
Module 3: Creating Navigation Buttons
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module3.htm
* Lesson 1: Basic Shapes and Colors
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module3/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Working With Text
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module3/lesson2.htm
* Lesson 3: Layer Basics
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module3/lesson3.htm
* Lesson 4: Optimizing GIF Images
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module3/lesson4.htm
Module 4: Creating a Web Page Banner
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module4.htm
* Lesson 1: Basic Image Manipulation
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module4/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Selection Tools
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module4/lesson2.htm
* Lesson 3: Layer Effects and Blending
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit4/module4/lesson3.htm

Unit 5: Overall Site Design and Management
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5.htm
Module 1: Website Navigational Systems
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module1.htm
* Lesson 1: Testing the Usability of Navigational Systems
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module1/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Creating Your Own Navigational System
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module1/lesson2.htm
Module 2: Using an external style sheet
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module2.htm
* Lesson 1: Linking to an External Style Sheet
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module2/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Stylizing a Navigational Menu
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module2/lesson2.htm
Module 3: Scripts and Server-side technologies
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module3.htm
* Lesson 1: Scripting and the Web
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module3/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: A Simple Javascript Program
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module3/lesson2.htm
Module 4: Validating a Website
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module4.htm
* Lesson 1: Validating Your HTML
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module4/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Validating Your CSS
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module4/lesson2.htm
* Lesson 3: Validating Your Accessibility
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit5/module4/lesson3.htm

Unit 6: Introduction to Web Authoring Software
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit6.htm
Module 1: Creating a Web Page using Web Authoring Software
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit6/module1.htm
* Lesson 1: Basic Features of Web Authoring Software
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit6/module1/lesson1.htm
Module 2 : Controlling Style using Web Authoring Software
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit6/module2.htm
* Lesson 1: CSS and Web Authoring Software: Controlling Presentation
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit6/module2/lesson1.htm
Module 3 : Site Management using Web Authoring Software
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit6/module3.htm
* Lesson 1: Overview of Site Management Features
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit6/module3/lesson1.htm

Unit 7: Client Website
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit7.htm
Module 1: Client Website
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit7/module1.htm
* Lesson 1: Planning the Client Website
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit7/module1/lesson1.htm
* Lesson 2: Constructing the Client Website
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit7/module1/lesson2.htm
* Lesson 3: Quality Control of the Client Website
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/student/unit7/module1/lesson3.htm

I was quite impressed that the creators of the curriculum made it so that it teaches standards-compliant web design and is itself grounded in national industry skills standards and national education standards.

Finally, the curriculum comes with video lessons for students and teachers to review. You can view the curriculum at http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webdesign/.

Brian Scarbeau
CSTA Board of Directors