Among the changes that have taken place in education over the last few years, perhaps one of the largest and most significant ones has been the emergence of computer science. Some districts require students to take computer science courses and plenty of others make sure they get at least some exposure to it through available electives or afterschool clubs. Obviously, computer science has evolved to the point at which it is almost a required skill for people in this day and age. The STEM-focused economy has dictated that more people than ever learn computer science skills, including programming and computational thinking, meaning that they’re having to be taught all throughout a student’s education. So, making sure that computer science is something that every student can participate in has risen to the forefront and schools are being challenged to find ways to make this happen.
How Teachers Can Better Bring CS to All Students
No matter their age, gender, or skill sets, the fact is that so many students are going to need computer science skills. In today’s world, there is little remaining doubt that computer science knowledge is something that is now foundational. Many schools, however, lack the resources to implement CS courses for students starting at an early age, including qualified instructors and equipment. This often leads to certain groups of students missing out on learning computer science, including girls and other minority members, which is obviously a problem. Even with this knowledge, African Americans, Hispanics, and females continue to make up only a small percentage of the STEM workforce. And, even with an increasing number of STEM grants available and the emergence of more STEM classes and careers, there aren’t as many students pursuing STEM as there probably should be. So, what can teachers do?
While there is no perfect formula for ensuring that educators create competent computer science curricula, there are certain things they can do to improve these outcomes. One of the first things to do, according to ISTE, is to be aware of biases. It’s important to reflect on your unconscious biases and consider whether or not they result in inequity in computer science. Some students should be pushed towards computer science while others might be better off focusing on something else; it’s important not to let pre-formed biases get in the way of this. Also, educators should teach computational thinking in all subjects not just in computer science classes. The process of engineering design is something that is very useful in all subjects and can be incorporated as such. It also helps students to think critically and more effectively own their learning.
Some of the other things teachers can do are teaching parents about STEM and computer science and creating student-led clubs where kids can engage in real-world activities. Holding community events for parents is a great way to educate them on all of the ways in which computer science skills can benefit their children in the future. Also, there are a lot of resources available for educators if they ever want to start an afterschool club. This is also great for allowing students to lead their own learning while teachers play the role of facilitator. Finally, educators can consider bringing in some role models to inspire their students. Successful people in STEM can positively inspire students to put more of a focus on doing so themselves, potentially resulting in a brighter future. Some of these may seem somewhat obvious, but they’re definitely some of the best ways to start bringing more CS to all.
Suggestions for Truly Expanding Computer Science for All
As the world continues to rely heavily on computer science experts, almost all parents believe their children’s schools should be allocating resources to teach computer science. Less than half of those schools, however, even offer a single computer science class. Though the amount of available computer science courses is increasing, school leaders are still choosing to focus on longtime core subjects, like math and reading rather than those that could very well give students a significant advantage in the 21st century. There is still very much a huge disconnect in what we believe students need to know and what their schools are offering them and, in this day and age, that mostly has to do with computer science. Teachers continue to face various sets of unique challenges when it comes to integrating computer science in education, including a lack of computer lab time, unreliable wireless networks, and sparse district support. The biggest challenge they seem to face, however, is finding educators who are qualified to teach these courses.
Obviously, it would take quite a bit of time to train the amount of teachers that would be ideal for teaching all of today’s students enough computer science skills. Even as teacher candidates graduate from college—some with the qualifications to teach CS and some without—they’re not always fully equipped to teach an entire course. One of the most promising solutions to this predicament is to cross-train teachers, which would at least fill the voids schools have while their districts work on a creating processes and incentives to develop more skilled computer science teachers. The best way to do this is likely to offer high-quality training during school hours so that teachers are not forced to use their own time to learn their new skills. Schools could also help teachers by creating different ways for them to become certified in teaching computer science. In recent years, there were far too few pre-service computer science certification programs available to teachers, but, as this number grows, it presents teachers with a good opportunity.
Here’s another suggestion for expanding K-12 computer science programs. School leaders can set things up so that various computer scientists visit classrooms and help teach kids a few times a year (or as often as they can make it happen). If finagled properly, it’s possible this could be done at little or no cost to the school. Finally, perhaps the best advice we can give to school leaders is to just stick to the basics. Spending money on one-off gadgets might not be the best move for a school system. Since some teaching tools become obsolete after just a year or two, equipping teachers with the proper skills can last much longer. This could also help teachers focus on teaching some of the broader computer science concepts, like algorithms and loops, for example, rather than trying to hammer home any specific programming language. Ultimately, though, it’s up to each school or district to decide.
How to Maker CS Education Realistic for All Students
Clearly, we’re at a point in which the amount of computer science courses being taught in K-12 schools is not high enough compared to the number of students who need to be involved in them. Students from all grades, states, economic backgrounds, and skill levels are missing out on the chance to learn coding and develop what is perhaps the most important foundational skill in today’s world. To help reduce the anxiety school leaders face when instituting a new computer science initiative, some experts recommend holding a parent night to also help ease the apprehensions parents have about pushing their kids towards learning computer science. Many parents tend to withdraw from supporting the teaching of computer science because they think it means their kids will be spending hours playing around with video games. Hosting an event showing them the incredible and real world-viable skills their children can learn by doing this, however, could really open their eyes.
Another route education leaders could take to expand the amount of students who participate in computer science is to work with groups that promote inclusion and diversity. Some groups are even formed to support increasing the diversity in computer science and the overall participation of today’s students in STEM activities. Additionally, schools could start making computer science more inclusive by hosting afterschool sessions or starting informal clubs in which kids can practice their skills in a less demanding environment. By framing coding as something fun that can also open up a lot of opportunities for kids rather than something they’ll need to know or risk falling behind, more students might be more inclined to give it a try. These clubs can take place during school, after school, or even at lunch and there are many resources available online to help teachers get started with ideas for making their coding club work.
Perhaps most importantly, one of the best ways to make coding and computer science more welcoming to all students is to actively practice inclusivity. Oftentimes, teachers may need to go out of their way to inspire girls or students of color to strike up an interest in coding. Unfortunately, not everybody is always going to want to jump at the opportunity. Even students with learning differences could be more welcomed when it comes to teaching tech skills. Whoever they are trying to reach, there is a good chance teachers are going to need to make the first move. Students might be hesitant at first, but repeatedly convincing them that computer science skills will help them so much in the future just might encourage more students to give it a try. And, once they see that it’s not all that difficult, hopefully they’ll tell their friends, too.
The Future of Coding in Schools
These days, the focus of education is on creating student-centered opportunities, collaborative learning environments, and the development of new literacies. Thanks to what the economy has dictated, one of those crucial literacies is coding. Coding has been compared with learning how to effectively read and write, underscoring its critical importance in both the present and the future. We cannot accurately predict how much coding today’s students will be doing in their future careers and that’s partly because we don’t know for sure yet what those careers will be. We can only speculate that whatever jobs they’re needed to fill will very much involve coding in one way or another. As coding skills grow in importance, schools have to figure out a way to accommodate teachers in their changing roles while also settling on the best ways to engage students and assess their work.
In order to create the education that today’s students need, school leaders need to be willing to use computers and technology in a productive way. Not only can computers process information, they can help students create it and use it to discover, explore, and experiment on their own—often through the process of coding. For this reason, many people are recommending that coding be introduced in schools across the board while others are hesitant to do so. When introducing coding in schools, school and district leaders need to ask the right questions, starting with why their students should be learning how to code. Opening the path to well-paying computer scientist and programming jobs isn’t necessarily reason enough for all students to learn coding. Think of it like this (shout out to Michael Resnick): Not everyone becomes a professional writer, but everyone learns how to write. It helps us organize our thoughts and present them cohesively. When coding, we’re also organizing, expressing, and sharing ideas.
One of the best ways to introduce coding to students is to allow them to work on projects they are passionate about. This could mean using a site like code.org or working in a hands-on way with robotics. Either option is a great way to get started. By getting this first-hand experience with coding, students can really begin understanding the creative process and how they can use it in programming. They can build prototypes, share their accomplishments, experiment with them, and continue modifying and improving what they’ve built. Perhaps the biggest key to getting kids to try coding is making it something they care about. There are so many ways for them to code and they are bound to find something that aligns with their interests. If approached right, coding can definitely complement student choice and vice versa, but, as long as it’s helping kids progress, it’s serving a purpose anyway.
Professional Organizations Can Help Educators Teach CS
Making such a large shift (and one that is so important to the futures of students) understandably sometimes leads to teachers needing some help. Thankfully, there are a lot of resources and even some companies dedicated specifically to increasing computer science education in schools that can help educators bring it into their classrooms. One of those organizations is ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education. If you’ve followed EdTech at all over the years, you’ve probably heard of ISTE and its amazing annual summer conference for tech-loving teachers. Well, they also have created their own set of modern education standards that focus on teaching future skills in the classroom. Just looking at the list of their standards, it’s clear that they’re focused on the future and, now more than ever, that future includes computer science.
One of the most important elements of getting started with CS is educator feedback. It’s crucial that all students become computer literate and gain skills related to computer science, like computational thinking and programming, but there is still the question of how to make CS education accessible to all students. The logical place to start is by equipping teachers to bring computer science and computational thinking to their students. This can be as simple as teachers taking a 1-hour tutorial on a site like Hour of Code or more in-depth if they would like. Schools also need to have computer science standards in place so that educators have something specific to teach. That’s where organizations like ISTE can help educators. Their set of computer science standards highlights what teachers should be teaching and the skills students should be developing during their computer science endeavors.
These standards are pretty invaluable when it comes to teaching K-12 computer science. It states what students should be able to know and do as they move through each grade level and provides teachers with appropriate instruction for achieving these outcomes. Overall, the standards help educators develop the next generation of employable people. More importantly for teachers, the standards help them learn how to guide students—particularly when they are new to computer science themselves. Ultimately, teachers need to be preparing students to become creators, problem solvers, collaborators, and computational thinkers. Since they may not know how to do this on their own, the ISTE Computer Science Standards offer an extremely helpful guide while making the whole process less intimidating.
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