Code.org Is Crowdsourcing Database of US K-12 Schools That Teach, Or Don't Teach CS 87
Longtime reader theodp writes: Nonprofit Code.org, which is bankrolled by the likes of Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Infosys, has teamed up with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and is "calling on all educators and parents" to "help us build a database of all schools that teach (or don't teach) computer science" (via direct responses and email advocacy tools). Called the K-12 Computer Science Access Report, Code.org says "the database will be a resource that everyone in the CS community can use." For what purposes, however, is not entirely clear, although the Code.org Medium post indicates the database will be used by the nonprofit and the CS community to "make our shared vision [for every school to teach computer science] a reality." The post cites a 2016 study conducted by Google and Gallup -- which took principals to task for being clueless about what constituted "computer science" and misgauging parental and student demand for CS -- and goes on to add that the new database will allow the organization to "be able to report more precisely which schools do or don't offer this opportunity to their students." As far as a timeframe for the naughty-or-nice K-12 CS school database goes, Code.org reports, "our goal is to gather data for 100% of US schools by the end of 2018." In earlier posts, Code.org has thanked its partners for their help in "changing [K-12 CS] education policies in forty states" (make that 43 states!) and claimed credit for "pressing lawmakers" into unlocking Federal funding for K-12 CS with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
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This was, literally, my first thought too. I am a teacher and a CSTA member. With that being said, I can not say that we teach computer science at a level that I am willing to call computer science.
I teach Computer apps and my extension activity is Hour of Code. I also teach Robotics using the Lego EV-3. I am trying to get the school to add Arduino programming to a Robotics 2 class.
I really don't think we teach computer science, as in "how it works" in the apps class at all.
Self Reporting (Score:2)
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like the idea (Score:2)
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Because it makes us all a little poorer when people with disproportionate skill at coding end up not even considering the profession because it wasn't an option at their school and they weren't willing to start from scratch in college and play catch up.
This whole business of pushing students to code is mainly about increasing the supply of programmers in a push to devalue the profession.
Disagr
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Nope. Gen-X.
It's not different. Now, as was the case 30 years ago, people can and will learn to code without the benefit of classes at school. Classes at school just makes it easier and more accessible to a wider range of people. Now, as was the case 30 years ago, you could learn Physics in your spare time as well. Or l
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Oh, I fully agree. But I'd add that employers are under no obligation to continue to employ personnel who aren't able to complete the tasks assigned to them.
I'm all for more immigrants. If an immigrant will do your job for less, at the same quality, then you don't deserve it at
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Because it makes us all a little poorer when people with disproportionate skill at coding end up not even considering the profession because it wasn't an option at their school and they weren't willing to start from scratch in college and play catch up.
Seriously? "Catch up" as a freshman in college? In one good CS class in college a student learns more than they will in 2 years of CS in high school. This is like those parents who think that if their kid doesn't get into the right pre-school he's doomed.
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Like the idea of shaming schools/districts into offering CS classes. And I say that as someone who opposes making CS a required elective and/or graduation requirement. While not everybody should take CS in high school, it seems criminal that some kids are attending schools that don't even offer it.
I would guess some schools have more pressing problems they are trying too address than teaching CS. It would be great if every school had the resources, knowledgeable teachers and a good curriculum so they can offer a viable CS option; I would be curious to overlay the set of schools not offering CS and socio-economic status and see what sort of correlations exist.
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Oh, for sure, there are schools dealing with more pressing issues. I'm just not convinced that offering C.S. as an option would steal time/resources from efforts to address those other issues. It's basically an issue of: "we can only offer a limited number of courses; what should be included and what shouldn't?" Replacing "something else" with C.S. needn't cost any more money or require hiring a dedicated C.S. teacher.
Fair enough. What would you replace? In addition, how are you sure it wouldn't require hiring a CS teacher? A good math teacher may not be able to teach CS anymore than someone who can teach CS would be able to teach math; plus you'd need to outfit and maintain a CS lab of some sort.
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There's no single course or set of courses I'd target, but I'm guessing at any given school I could find something that is (in my opinion) less essential than C.S. I just looked up the course list of a high school in the school district where I live. Some of the courses I think are less useful than C.S.: Astronomy, Environmental Systems, Animation, Sports Medicine, Film Analysis, "Street Law and Criminal Law" (not even sure what "street law" is), Ethnic Studies, Child Development,
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Fair enough. What would you replace?
CS should be an elective, so it should be up to each student to chose it in place of another elective.
Some programming should be integrated into math and science classes. For instance, calculus class should include a section on numerical integration using Simpson's method, and numerical solution of polynomials using Newton-Raphson, etc.
you'd need to outfit and maintain a CS lab of some sort.
There are plenty of web based interpreters that can run on any device with a browser. No "lab" is needed.
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I would guess some schools have more pressing problems they are trying too address than teaching CS.
Yeah, like "two", "to", and "too".
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I would guess some schools have more pressing problems they are trying too address than teaching CS.
Yeah, like "two", "to", and "too".
Grammar is for those two narrow minded too consider it is possible 10 have more than to alternatives.
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What is the definition of CS?
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They don't really teach true CS in high schools. It's mostly just programming (or "coding"), maybe with a smattering about some high level components. There's no purpose to this except to get cheap labor, churning out poorly trained people from schools who can be snatched up for low paying jobs.
There has been a push from industry for over 30 years to teach only job related computer skills, meaning only teach that year's popular languages so that the graduates are shovel ready, and to downplay theory, brea
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Having C.S. in high school gives kids a chance to learn what programming is like in a structured, guided environment. Maybe
Re: like the idea (Score:2)
Look very carefully at this gift horse. (Score:1)
I think it's better to not teach coding in K-12 at all rather than have it taught by the likes of Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and Google. These companies have shown that they are willing to destroy privacy, wage psychological warfare, and condition/control large groups of people if they think it will make them a dollar.
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I don't think it should be taught at all, for any reason, until the schools have completely mastered the teaching of math, English, history, etc. They continue to degenerate in those areas, they don't need to waste time on what amounts to vocational training. Anyone who has fundamentals and logical thought processes can learn to write computer programs in a few minutes or hours, and without the fundamentals, there is no reason to write computer programs.
explore all interests (Score:5, Insightful)
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Has anyone started a crowd sourced list for teaching plumbing or welding yet?
There is no need, because these are already taught.
I learned "stick" arc welding in high school as part of a metal working class. It was the second most useful class that I took in HS. The first was touch typing.
School Leaders Feel Pressured to Expand CS by Tech (Score:5, Interesting)
In related news, "Forty-seven percent of the school leaders surveyed by Education Week said they feel mild or strong pressure to expand computer science from vendors and the technology industry [wordpress.com]. That's compared with 28 percent who said they feel such pressure from parents and 23 percent from teachers."
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What you're proposing is just basic computer literacy, which is a wholly different animal than computer science. I'd argue that such a class is probably more beneficial than trying to teach everyone to program. Perhaps people m
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You don't need to understand a lick of programming to know how to use a computer anymore, much like you don't need to be an engineer or mechanic to operate an automobile and in another decade or so you won't even need to know how to drive one as that will have been abstracted away. What you're proposing is just basic computer literacy, which is a wholly different animal than computer science. I'd argue that such a class is probably more beneficial than trying to teach everyone to program. Perhaps people might take better steps to protect their privacy online, be better at finding information, or be less vulnerable to phishing scams.
Exactly. Years ago, I took a course called "Chemistry, Society and Man" which looked at the impact, positive and negative, of chemistry on history. It showed how chemistry enables us to feed more people economically while simultaneously making it easier to manufacturer more and more powerful weapons to kill them (the Haber - Bosch process). Science is neutral, it's how it is used that matters. Courses that challenge students to consider the possibilities, and limitations, of computers on society would be mo
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I'm all for computer literacy. But most kids figure that out by themselves. Parents seem to be the ones having trouble adapting to newer technology, perhaps fearing that the children will be equally inept unless they take special classes. But nevertheless, computer literacy classes are fine. But teaching CS goes a bit far, make sure that they have the appropriate levels of mathematics and science first, and writing of course, too many programmers out there who can't write or communicate effectively.
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Terrible (Score:2)
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That has been tried and is still the model in some nations. It fails as education of any sort becomes something only the wealthy can afford as that is how the private sector works, no profits no services. Having free government funded education is the best way forward.
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Isn't this shaming poor schools by big companies? (Score:3)
When I RFTA, I have to wonder if the only result of this is going to primarily highlight schools in areas that cannot afford sufficient computers for training students or teachers with the skills in order to teach programming.
Even if the money is allocated, who's going to benefit the most? Microsoft and Google will probably be the biggest beneficiaries of monies allocated out to "rectify" the problem as well as give CS teachers priorities over other teacher classifications.
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schools in areas that cannot afford sufficient computers for training students
A Raspberry Pi Zero costs $5.
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For a poor school, a Raspberry Pi Zero is a bookmark that cost $5.
For it to be usable, you have to add:
- Power Supply
- SD Card for File System
- Keyboard
- Display
- Network infrastructure for school to support a classroom of Raspberry Pis
- Network and programmingTechnical support
- Trained teacher that has curriculum
When you have a poor school, the suggestion of a $5 processor card isn't all that helpful when they see the investments that must be made to be able to actually get it to first power up and then se
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Power Supply - $2 each in bulk. Or the students can use their cell phone chargers.
SD Card for File System - $2 each in bulk for 2GB SD cards.
Keyboard - $2 each at Goodwill
Display - $5 at Goodwill, or free from Craigslist if you carry them away
Network infrastructure - How many schools don't have Wifi?
curriculum - Free from Khan Academy
When you have a poor school ...
This is mostly a myth. School spending in America is far more progressive than you think [economist.com]. There are state and federal programs to level funding disparities, and in most stat
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As a teacher I have about a dozen Arduino learning kits. The trouble is in getting the curriculum committee to agree to allow me to add them into my robotics course (the only class I teach that they slide into).
I would really like to add them into computer II (I teach one semester courses of Computer i and Computer II, each being a full semester). However, the curriculum committee. Requires that I teach the same topics in both classes, "so that if a student is only able to take one of the classes, they won'
Number of CS programs (Score:2)
zero.
Number of trades programs in IT and Software, all of the rest of them.
I'd rather they taught English. (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been a professional software developer for 30 years, and while there certainly are many cases where I've worked with or interviewed people who were lacking in computer-science skills, very little of that was because they weren't getting enough CS teaching in primary and secondary school. I mean, if you've spent 4 years in college getting a CS degree and a few years in industry working and you STILL can't keep up, adding a semester in 11th grade isn't going to help.
On the other hand, raising English communications proficiency across the board by a single grade level would have HUGE benefits for the industry. Communicating better would likely result in better technical results, too.
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Shame they feel the need to do this... (Score:2)
In this age, surely it would be trivial to have a national database of all schools, the subjects they teach, and the results they get, (normalised for factors such as budget, intake literacy level etc. If desired), but hey I guess both the teachers unions and the management would be in rare agreement about how that would somehow not in parent and student interest, right?
Pre-requisites first (Score:2)