1. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 The High School Computing Course J. Philip East University of Northern Iowa

2. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 It is important that students leave high school understanding computing! As important as understanding physics, chemistry, biology, history, government, mathematics, and (maybe) writing and reading.

3. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 Recommendation for A High School Course in Computer Science  Follow the Fluency Report  Its major recommendations  Concepts  Skills  Intellectual Capabilities  Project-based Learning

4. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 “Ten” Concepts  How computers work  ?Information systems?  How networks work  Digital representation of data & information  Information storage & retrieval  Problem representation & abstraction  Algorithmic thinking & programming  ?Universality?  Limits of comuting  Social impact

5. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 “Ten” Intellectual Capabilities  Engage in sustained reasoning  Manage complexity  Test a solution  ?Manage faulty solutions?  Find/use information  Collaborate  Communicate with other audiences  Expect the unexpected  Anticipate new tech.  Think about IT abstractly

6. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 “Ten” Skills  Set up a computer  Basic OS tasks  Text documents  Slides & images  Connecting to a network  Resources via Internet  Communication  Spreadsheet  ?Database?  Computer-based instruction & documentation

7. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 Project-based Instruction  Results in some “artifact”  Provide opportunity for students to apply some skills and practice some intellectual capabilities while demonstrating learning & understanding of some computing concept  Probably some skills, concepts, and capabilities will not be addressed by projects (but some will!)

8. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 What about programming?  Programming (ala the Fluency Report)  included in “concepts”—algorithmic thinking and programming u specifying instructions “precisely” & “primitively” for some agent other than the programmer to carry out, preferably with conditional and iterative execution  deemed essential by authors  does not require traditional programming (spreadsheet/HTML might do)  I am not convinced it is necessary I cannot equate programming with spreadsheets or HTML but do think designing significant projects in these areas uses the same intellectual skills as programming. I plan not to have students do any “programming” project(s).

9. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 What does one of these courses look like? How do I do that?

10. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 Planning The Course u Skill acquisition activities exercise on-line/independent learning capability  Knowledge acquisition activities (the “lecture” part of the course?)  Projects—apply skills and exercise intellectual capabilities to demonstrate conceptual understanding  Group work—address changing technology, societal impact, collaboration, etc.

11. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 Assessing Student Learning u Is hard u At least two forms u did you do it? u how well did you do? u Make your time as instructionally effective as possible u Try to u get students to focus on learning not grades u develop student evaluation skill

12. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 Keep In Mind u No single bit of knowledge is critical  Trust the process How do you know what students hear/learn in your current teaching? You already trust the process (with little evidence of success)!  Intellectual capabilities and concepts are enduring; skills are transitory  You pick the skills to include, concepts to address, and intellectual capabilities to apply

13. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 Resources  Being Fluent with Information Technology http://www.nap.edu/catalog/6482.html u College level examples u Philip East (not well done, yet): http://www.cns.uni.edu/~east/teaching/021 u Larry Snyder (one of the report authors): http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/100/CurrentQtr/ u Add your course here? u _________________________________________________

14. CS & IT Symposium 2001June 24, 2001 ?