Yes! You can Teach computer science with Ryan Rasar STEM Coordinator rrasar@nvvacademy.org @RLRasar Yes! You can Teach computer science with NSTA STEM Forum & Expo Denver Colorado July 29, 2016

Who wants their students to… Have confidence in dealing with complexity Have persistence in dealing with difficult problems Be tolerant of ambiguity Be able to deal with open ended problems Communicate and work with others to create a solution Think on their own for more than 5 seconds before saying “tell me the answer” How about having your students do all of this (and more) without complaint and LIKING it? Have no fear computer science is here!

You Got Skills? Results Text “RYANRASAR747” to “22333” Then reply to the text with your answer “A, B, C or D” How comfortable are you teaching computer science? I have a BS in CS. I even dream in JavaScript. I could handle it. I have made some code before. A little bit. I at least know that computers run on code. Not at all. I am scared of semicolons. This question is designed to pre-assess your audience’s knowledge of your presentation topic. This will allow you to respond appropriate to their questions as well as engage the audience in the presentation. Results

ERROR 404…this guy doesn’t have a computer science degree Ryan Rasar Previous career in site planning and landscape architecture 8 years as an educator Have taught science, computer technology, engineering classes in brick & mortar and online Insert a brief bio and picture on a slide such as this for each speaker.

You Got Skills? Results Text “RYANRASAR747” to “22333” Then reply to text with your answer “A, B, C or D” How comfortable are you teaching computer science? I have a BS in CS. I even dream in Javascript. I could handle it. I have made some code before. A little bit. I at least know that computers run on code. Not at all. I am scared of semicolons. This question is designed to pre-assess your audience’s knowledge of your presentation topic. This will allow you to respond appropriate to their questions as well as engage the audience in the presentation. Results

What are we doing here? Speaking Points Audience Learning Objectives Technology “consumers” to “producers” 5 reasons for kids to code What is SGD Student engagement, learning, and skill development Firsts as a virtual school SGD plus other CS options It is FREE! Yes FREE! What you need to know (or not know) about teaching computer science What training and resources are available It’s not all fun and games Positive outcomes for students How you can start this (or similar program) with your students This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one.

What are we doing here? Speaking Points Audience Learning Objectives Technology “consumers” to “producers” 5 reasons for kids to code What is SGD Student engagement, learning, and skill development Firsts as a virtual school SGD plus other CS options It is FREE! Yes FREE! What you need to know (or not know) about teaching computer science What training and resources are available It’s not all fun and games Positive outcomes for students How you can start this (or similar program) with your students This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one.

Not a new idea My favorite games of the 1980’s Number Munchers Odell Lake Oregon Trail This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one.

VS Why games? It’s FUN! (hard fun) Accomplishment (points, etc.) It’s OK to lose Learn by losing Social This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one. VS

Need to shift from being “consumers” of technology to “producers” of technology. Your students are most likely excellent users of technology. Somehow kids can text with their phone in their pocket and find very creative ways to bypass your content filters. Maybe your sub lesson plans say “Ask Suzy if you need help with the (insert anything with a power cord or battery here)”. kids are the first to use every app and play every annoying game possible. This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one. But how good are your students at CREATING with technology rather than just using it?

5 Reasons Why Promising Practices Speaker Session

5 Reasons Why Promising Practices Speaker Session

5 Reasons Why Promising Practices Speaker Session

5 Reasons Why Promising Practices Speaker Session

5 Reasons Why Promising Practices Speaker Session

5 Reasons Why Promising Practices Speaker Session

Wow that’s great! This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one.

So then why don’t you program? “Programming is hard and boring” This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one.

“programming is hard and boring” easy cognitive hard affective exciting boring

Wouldn’t it be nice to be here? easy cognitive hard affective exciting boring

SGD gets your students in the “Zone” SGD has low threshold, high ceiling curriculum. Allows students and teachers to quickly start with simple games. Then continue to sophisticated games and simulations exhibiting artificial intelligence. This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one.

What is SGD? The goal of this project is to get computer science into middle schools Remove the stigma that coding is hard and boring By game design we mean the active process of students collaboratively engaging in problem solving, creativity, modeling and communication Game design develops a rich set of skills consistent with STEM and IT competency frameworks such as the National Academy of Sciences Fluency with IT, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards and Next Generation Science (NGSS) Standards 18,000+ research students (estimated exposure to 40,000) in 26 states and 6 countries

What is SGD? 21st Century skills!

NSF Grant Project Application process to be accepted Training and software are provided for accepted scholars and their students In trade for training and software use students provide and teachers collect data Program participants pre and post surveys Games are accessed via the online arcade for review by U of Colorado

Enough talk let’s make a game! Easy as 1,2,3 (and 4)! 1) Create agents (characters) 2) Create your world 3) Program your world 4) Create and play your game/simulation

FROGGER What is Scalable Game Design? The Art of Storytelling Da Art of Storytellin’ Actually Step 1 is the story. We might focus on the graphics or the gameplay but all games have a story. Such as this classic… You are a frog. Your task is simple: hop across a busy highway, dodging cars and trucks, until you get the to the edge of a river, where you must keep yourself from drowning by crossing safely to your grotto at the top of the screen by leaping across the backs of turtles and logs. But watch out for snakes and alligators! This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one. FROGGER

Nouns = Agents You are a frog. Your task is simple: hop across a busy highway, dodging cars and trucks, until you get the to the edge of a river, where you must keep yourself from drowning by crossing safely to your grotto at the top of the screen by leaping across the backs of turtles and logs. But watch out for snakes and alligators! This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one.

Verbs = Interactions (Programming) You are a frog. Your task is simple: hop across a busy highway, dodging cars and trucks, until you get the to the edge of a river, where you must keep yourself from drowning by crossing safely to your grotto at the top of the screen by leaping across the backs of turtles and logs. But watch out for snakes and alligators! This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one.

www.agentcubesonline.com Let’s build it! Important things first…Frogger Then…mass extinction of the human race And finally…look at other sample games/simulations This is an alternate welcome slide for your session. You may use either this slide or the previous slide at your discretion, then delete the other one.

There’s this thing called NGSS

There’s this thing called NGSS

SGD is unlike teaching other subjects Better to be a good teacher than a good computer scientist Many similarities to the “hole in the wall” (Sugata Mitra) Creates a learning community with “experts” of all kinds Your students will teach each other and YOU Facilitator rather than teacher Not one way to do it there are so many “right” answers

SGD is the best thing since Napster. How do I participate? Google “Scalable Game Design” Visit the wiki at scalablegamedesign.cs.colorado.edu/ Join the mailing list (email SGDhelp@colorado.edu) Apply to the summer institute (spring 2017) Accepted scholars attend training at the university of Colorado at Boulder June 2017 (1 week)

Participation & Demographics Initial goal was to have 40 students First semester had over 100 Over 60% chose to continue for a second semester 40+ additional new students for second semester NVVA overall grades 4-8: White/Caucasian: 61% Hispanic/Latino: 15% Amer. Indian/AK Native HI or Pacific Islander: 3% Asian: 5% Black/African American: 16% SGD Fall 2015

Participation & Demographics Las Vegas Metro: 85% Reno Metro: 5% Rural: 10% Boys: 74% Girls: 26% FRL eligible: 46% Not FRL eligible: 54% NVVA overall grades 4-8: FRL eligible: 52% Special Ed: 12% SGD Participants Special education: (12%) Gifted & Talented:(8%) 504:(6%)

I can’t wait until next year  What can I do now? AgentCubes Online (https://www.agentcubesonline.com/quickstart/ ) Code.org ( https://code.org/ ) Hour of Code ( https://code.org/learn ) Computer Science week ( https://csedweek.org/) December 2017 Code Studio ( https://studio.code.org/ ) Scratch ( https://scratch.mit.edu/ ) Google CS First (https://www.cs-first.com/ ) MIT App Inventor (http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/ ) STEM Video Game Challenge (http://stemchallenge.org )

Go drink the Kool Aid! Ryan Rasar STEM Coordinator Nevada Virtual Academy rrasar@nvvacademy.org @RLRasar