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The Institute for Computing Education at Georgia Tech
Barbara EricsonGeorgia Tech
[email protected]://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt
History of ICE Joint effort by the
Georgia DOE and Georgia Tech
Started in 2004 AP CS teachers
needed training in Java and OO
Only 44 schools offering AP CS out of > 400
Goals of ICE
Increase the number of qualified computing teachers in Georgia Train teachers with no formal
background in Computer Science Typically business teachers
Increase the number and diversity of computing students in Georgia
Original Computing Courses
Computer ApplicationsWord, Powerpoint, Excel
IT FoundationsHistory, Networking, Web Dev
Programming and Systems ManagementProgramming, database, GUI, etc
Advanced Placement Computer Science
Curriculum Revision
An external review found that Georgia's standards Did not follow national standards Were too broad and shallow Lacked rigor Were content based – not
performance based
Revision Committee A committee of high
school computing teachers, university faculty, and DOE staff created new performance-based standards
Committee met 5 times from Sept 2005 to Feb 2006
Created 3 new computing courses
Based on the ACM model curriculum for K-12http://csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/ACMK12CSModel.html
Comparing Curriculums
Level 2 (II) Computer Science inthe Modern World
Level 2 (II) Computing inthe Modern World
ACM Model Curriculum Georgia Curriculum
Level 3 (III) Computer Scienceas Analysis and Design
Level 3 (III) Beginning Programming
Level 4 (IV) Topics in CS – Advanced Placement CS
Level 4 (IV) Topics in CS – Advanced Placement CS
Level 3 (III) Intermediate Programming
Professional Development Summer workshops
Grown from two weeks in 2004
To four weeks in 2008 School-year
workshops LEGO NXT robots Alice Media Computation Games AP Exam
Teacher Training Results AP CS has grown
from 44 schools in Georgia in 2004 to over 90 schools in 2009
https://apcourseaudit.epiconline.org/ledger/
304 unique teachers from 199 schools and 12 states
2004 40
2005 72
2006 80
2007 95
2008 92
2009 63
Summer 2009 Workshops Computing in the Modern World
PicoCrickets, Scratch, Alice, and CS Unplugged Activities
Beginning Programming Media Computation in Python and IPRE
robots Intermediate Programming
Media Computation in Java and Greenfoot AP CS A
Alice and Media Computation, GridWorld, Greenfoot, etc
PicoCrickets
Invention kit integrating art and technology http://www.picocricket.com/
Scratch Free software from MIT for
creating 2D animations and games http://scratch.mit.edu
Alice 2.2 Free software from CMU for creating
3D movies and games http://www.alice.org
Alice 3.0 Beta Free software
from CMU for creating 3D movies and games http://www.alice.or
g Includes the
Electronic Arts Sims characters
Can import into Netbeans IDE as Java code
CS Unplugged Free materials for teaching
computing concepts without a computer http://csunplugged.org/
Binary Numbers
Network Deadlocks
Media Computation Writing textual
programs to manipulate media
http://www.mediacomputation.org
Soup-Audio Collage
IPRE Robots Parallax scribbler robots with color
camera and Bluetooth http://www.roboteducation.org/
Greenfoot Free software
from the Un. of Kent and Deakin Un. for building 2D simulations and games in Javahttp://
www.greenfoot.org
Alice and Media Computation Teaching computing
concepts in Alice first and then covering the same concepts in Java with Media Computation http://
home.cc.gatech.edu/TeaParty
GridWorld Advanced
Placement Computer Science Case Study Example of a larger
program for students to learn from
Used to teach object-oriented concepts
Wearable Computers
Developed by Leah Buechley Now of MIT
Very small computers, sensors, and lights Connected with
conductive thread
Pleo Robots Devloped by
Ugobe The creator of the
Furby Now owned by
Innvo Labs Programmed
using MySkit or the Pleo Dev Kit
Lending Library for Teachers We lend our LEGO
NXT robots and PicoCricket kits Up to 3 weeks at a
time Up to 12 kits per
teacher Must leave a
deposit And lose deposit if
missing parts or not sorted
Certification Issues in CS Most states do
not require training in CS for teachers Georgia does not
require any training
Business teachers are considered in field for CS
http://csta.acm.org/Communications/sub/Documents.html
Certification Issues in Georgia In 2005 the Georgia Professional Standards
Commission changed the rules so that only business teachers could teach AP CS
We would have lost an entire district of math teachers who were teaching AP CS
And we had a physics teacher and 2 music teachers Georgia Tech was able to convince the GA PSC
to allow anyone with a valid teaching certificate to teach AP CS
But, we wanted to ensure that teachers had sufficient training in computer science
CS Endorsement Committee formed to create an
endorsement based on the NCATE standards in 2006 Teachers, university faculty, and Georgia
Professional Standards Commission Worked for 1 year Posted for 6 months for comments
Endorsement passed in Dec 2008 Only voluntary for now
Can be added to any type of teaching certification Two schools will offer it in Georgia
Kennesaw State University – fall 2009 Columbus State University – online in 2010
Student Outreach Summer Camps
High school since 2004 Middle school since
2006 Elem school (4th and 5th)
since 2009 Weekend and after-
school computing activities
Girl Scouts since 2005 YWCA since 2007 Cool Girls, Boys and
Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts 2008
Summer Camps Our camps always fill
So we started training and providing "seed money" to other colleges and universities in Georgia in 2007
From NSF BPC grant We have started 8
additional summer camps in Georgia since 2007http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt/915
Girl Scout Outreach
2005-2006 – 40 LEGO robots
2006-2007 – 80 LEGO robots and
Alice 2007-2008 – 428 2008-2009 – 455
LEGO, Alice, PicoCrickets, Scratch
YWCA – Teen Girls in Tech Afterschool
program at 4 area middle schools Worked with since
spring 2007 Mentored 2 FIRST
LEGO League teams
Cool Girls Low income
middle school girls Started in fall
2008
Boys and Girls Clubs Worked with
nearby location Also did webinar
on Scratch
Computing Competitions AP Bowl
Practice Advanced Placement CS Exam Scratch – new in 2010 Alice – new in 2010 RoboCup Jr. – proposed
Dance Rescue Soccer
Results? One of our summer camp kids from
2005 is now a 3rd year CS major Just won most outstanding Junior Wants to go to graduate school
We get statistically significant changes in attitudes towards computing In just a 4 hour workshop Using PicoCrickets, Scratch, and Alice
Kids report an increase in interest in CS
CS Education Info The 4 years of math and science push
Texas gives math credit for AP CS Georgia gives science credit for AP CS (just removed!)
The 10,000 teachers by 2015 push from Jan Cuny of the National Science Foundation
Development of a new AP course in computer science Want a course that appeals to more people
Rebooting unemployed IT workers to be teachers
Georgia's alternative teacher prep program High School Program
Training high school students to be helpers
Operation Reboot Transform 30 unemployed IT workers into
high school computing teachers 10 per year for 3 years
IT worker Paid a stipend of $3410 a month for 11 months Co-teaches 2 computing classes / sections per
year with the existing computing teacher Earns initial teaching certificate through GaTAPP
And a CS endorsement
http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt/1077
Timeline First group of 10 selected by Thanksgiving
Begin training Nov 30th
Start in classroom in Jan 2010 Second group of 10 selected by June 2010
Begin training July 2010 Start in classroom in Aug 2010
Third group of 10 selected by June 2011 Begin training July 2011 Start in classroom in Aug 2011
How can you help? Visit schools for career day Allow a computing teacher to shadow you Volunteer to help your local AP CS teacher
Or get your school to offer AP CS Mentor a robot competition team
Or assist Do workshops for youth serving
organizations Offer summer camps
Funding
Georgia Tech and the Georgia Department of Education have both supported this effort Along with the Toyota Foundation,
Microsoft, Atlanta Women's Foundation, and the National Science Foundation