Rebooting High School Computer Science
Image from Wikimedia Commons
The reality of computer science today is not a bunch of geeks in basements writing code, a Google research executive tells the New York Times. Computer science’s broad reach extends across the sciences, industry, culture and society, from Facebook to gene sequencing to climate-change modeling. But that’s not the focus of most high-school computer-science courses. So the National Science Foundation (NSF) is developing a new high-school introductory computer-science course as well as updates for Advanced Placement courses. The goal is to train 10,000 high-school teachers over the next four years to implement the modernized courses. Today’s classes, NSF frets, are too focused on software, like word processing and spread sheets. “We’re not showing and teaching kids the magic of computing,” Janice C. Cuny, an NSF program director, tells the Times.
In his Bits blog for the Times, technology reporter Steve Lohr followed up on his article by noting that the goal is more than just extending and deepening the country’s pool of computer scientists. The plan is for all students to understand that IT will be part of their careers, no matter if they’re artists, doctors, lawyers or geologists. Robert Reich, the former Clinton administration labor secretary, says that most new jobs in a modern economy will be “heavily influenced” by computer science. That’s something NSF says it must make very clear to parents and administrators, since K-12 education is controlled at state or local levels. And computer science is usually an elective — one that’s been hit in recent years by budget cuts as school districts concentrate dwindling resources on core courses.
In other news on NSF, last month when a House-Senate conference committee agreed to boost the agency’s budget, it also directed NSF to put together a panel of experts to study pre-K-12 schools that have successful STEM programs and to report back to Congress with recommendations within six months.
Filed under: K-12 Education News
