The Institute for Computing Education at Georgia Tech

Barbara EricsonGeorgia Tech

ericson@cc.gatech.eduhttp://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