Computer Science in our schools:
In Governor Branstad's final session, he signed into law Senate File 274, which is related to teaching computer science in schools.
This link is a related article from the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
This link will take you to the full bill.
A few highlights of the bill include:
- Funding for a professional development incentive fund for computer science. The Legislature has $250,000 allocated so far for this fund. Schools will have to apply for these funds.
-Licensure for computer science through the Department of Education.
(I have been requesting this for many years)
- It is the "goal' that by 2019, in all accredited Iowa schools:
* every high school will offer at least one "high-quality" computer science course - with a possibility that it can count towards required graduation credits and not simply an elective.
* every middle school will offer an exploratory computer science course
* every elementary school will offer some instruction in computer science
A work group will be establishing more guidelines later in 2017.
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High School:
The Grinnell-Newburg School District currently offers two computer science courses at the high school, taught by Jill Scanlan and Mike Hunter. The Intro. to Computer Science course curriculum is licensed by Project Lead the Way. The one-trimester course will have two sections offered in 2017-2018. There are four other PLTW courses available. Read about them at this link. Summer workshops and ongoing professional development is available for teachers by PLTW.
Our other high school course offering is Computer Science Principles, which may be taken by students as an Advanced Placement (AP) course. Free summer training for teachers is available through Code.org.
Elementary:
There has been a dramatic growth in recent years in computer science curriculum development for younger students. Computer programming skills are taught in multiple units in our elementary grades. It is included in the recently adopted Project Lead the Way Launch curriculum at Kindergarten, First, Second, and Third Grade. These units meet many Computer Science, ELA, Math, and Next Generation Science Standards, and are a very important part of the curriculum. They may be found at this link.
The computer science units at our elementaries are readily supported through applications on the student-issued iPads and include lesson support materials for teachers.
Middle:
Our middle school does not currently offer a computer science exploratory course. There are full curriculums available that are directed to middle school students. Those most developed for middle school include:
Apple - Swift Playgrounds
This is a free application available on iPads. The more work I do with Swift, the more I am impressed at how well it can be used to blend the visually engaging challenges and basics of coding. More details may be found at Apple at this link. The middle school will have at least one cart of iPads available beginning with the 2017-2018 school year.
Project Lead the Way - Introduction to Computer Science
This is currently taught at the high school, but may be included at either building. It is geared well for 8th/9th grade students, or those who have not have much experience with coding. Students use MIT App Inventor with Android tablets, but do their coding work on their student-issued MacBook Airs.
Code.org -
A full middle school curriculum is expected to be rolled out later this summer. Some details may be found at this link, as well as comparisons with some other computer science curriculum resources. Code.org has resources available for students of all ages and is the originator of the Hour of Code initiative in December.
There are many other options available for computer science resources.
There have been several successful programs in our community to encourage and build computer science skills among our students. These have been operated though Grinnell College, Drake Library, and Poweshiek County Extension. It is also included in after-school activities, such as the high school FRC (First Robotics Competition) TechTigers. These have been great extensions for select students. Senate File 274 shows that an emphasis will be needed to bring computer science to all of our students.
