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Computer Science courses in elementary and secondary schools
Fellow Educators & Colleagues,
"Computer science courses in elementary and secondary schools are fading from the national landscape at a time when they are most needed. The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) has found that introductory secondary school computer science courses have decreased in number by 17 percent since 2005 and the number of Advanced Placement (AP) computer science courses has decreased by 33 percent." --H.R. 5929 (July 2010)
The newly formed San Diego Computer Science Teachers Association (http://sandiegocsta.org), a local chapter of the national CSTA (http://csta.acm.org/) in NY, has entered into a partnership with UCSD's San Diego Supercomputer Center for Education. The goal of the organization is to reintroduce a Computer Science curriculum for all K-12 schools in San Diego County based on the ACM/CSTA K-12 Model Curriculum. We are in the very initial stages of this project. As you can imagine, this isn't a simple goal that will be accomplished on short order.
Recognizing the stakes of denying hundreds of thousands of our local students not just a basic grounding in what Computer Science is and how it will affect all of our lives is only a beginning. In the world in which our students will live and work, everything and everyone will be a keystroke away. They will be rubbing elbows not just with other Americans, but Brazilians, Chinese, Indians, Europeans and Russians. Being simply consumers of technology or gadgeteers falls far short of the genuinely competitive, participatory leadership roles in which they will need to participate. The infusion of computational thinking throughout virtually every discipline and occupation requires recognizing this as a new and necessary literacy. While there may be dozens of reasons any one of us can offer as to why a comprehensive project such as this shouldn't and can't happen, there are hundreds of thousands of reasons showing up in our classrooms every school day that say this should and must. Waiting for this to happen after students leave our K-12 care means most of them will never have that opportunity to participate.
What we need to do at this point is create a community in San Diego County interested in designing not just the curriculum, but the resources and implementation models that will needed to realize this. If you'd like to participate (no dues, no mandatory meetings), please consider joining both the national CSTA and our local chapter. You can do so at http://sandiegocsta.org . Please feel free to contact me and to forward this to a colleague.
Thank you.
Joseph Pistone
San Diego CSTA
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Partial from House Resolution 5929
Entire document: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc111/h5929_ih.xml
Synopsis: http://polis.house.gov/UploadedFiles/7-29_CSEA_fact_sheet.pdf
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Computing technology, driven by breakthroughs in computer science, is an integral part of the culture of the United States and is reshaping how people interact.
(2) Computer science is transforming industry, creating new fields of commerce, driving innovation in all fields of science, and bolstering productivity in established economic sectors.
(3) Computer science underpins the information technology sector of the United States economy, which is a significant contributor to the economic output of the United States.
(4) The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that from 2008 through 2018 more than 1,500,000 high-wage computing jobs will be created in the United States economy, making high-wage computing one of the fastest growing occupational fields.
(5) Computer science is critical for national security and for meeting the challenges that a modern society faces. Of the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering determined by the National Academy of Engineering, 8 have a predominant or significant computer science component.
(6) Providing students with computer science education in elementary and secondary school is critical for student success in the 21st century and for strengthening the workforce.
(7) Elementary and secondary computer science education gives students a deeper knowledge of the fundamentals of computing, yielding critical thinking skills that will serve them throughout their lives in numerous fields.
(8) Computer science courses in elementary and secondary schools are fading from the national landscape at a time when they are most needed. The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) has found that introductory secondary school computer science courses have decreased in number by 17 percent since 2005 and the number of Advanced Placement (AP) computer science courses has decreased by 33 percent.
