And we're going to talk about computer science education for all kids with
a focus on kids with disabilities and those at risk for academic failure.
So essentially, what we're going to talk about today is what is computer science?
What does it mean when we say computer science for all?
We're also going to talk about the specific challenges that students with
disabilities are going to face when they're in computer science
education environments.
And then about approaches that we can use to support them as they are learning
computer science education.
So firstly, what is computer science?
Computer science is really about recognizing problems that can be solved in
a computational way.
What kind of problems can be best solved through a computer?
And then what are computational approaches that we can use to solve those problems?
And there are a lot of misconceptions about what computer science is.
And so there’s a list here that include a lot of different things that computer
scientists do beyond just computer programming.
They're iteratively problem solving.
They're collaborating with their peers.
They're communicating with other computer programmers and with their clients.
They're working with both hardware, for example, cell phones, as well as software,
so those apps on the cell phones.
And they're using logic and creativity.
Computing and computer science is actually everywhere.
In fact only about half of all computing jobs are in tech companies.
The majority of computing jobs are in fields such as architecture,
in medicine, in music, in education.
So think about using data analytics to understand how well students are learning.
Or think about using animations and movies or
learning to use video games for learning.
All of those require computing.
So if we think about computing from this perspective, then we start to think about
computer science as foundational knowledge along with the other STEM fields.
Along with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, we think
about computing as part of that and we think about it as part of the T in STEM.
If we think about computer science being everywhere, then we have to start to think
about how is it that we're going to teach kids how to learn computer programming?
And this is where computer science education is going to fit in.
In fact right now there are more and
more K-12 educational opportunities around computing that are being developed.
And what they're doing is that they're teaching children to create
technology not just to be consumers of technology.
So right here you see a bunch of different icons for different computing software.
Everything from Scratch, which we'll talk about in a moment, that we're using in
our projects in Code.org, which are very specific to learning computing,
to programs that actually teach computing within the context of other STEM areas.
So Project GUTS teaches computing within the context of science.
And Codesters and
Bootstrap teach computing within the context of mathematics.
If we start to think about computer science education, the next step
is to think about how do we provide that education to a broad range of learners.
So recently, in January of 2016,
the White House announced an initiative called Computer Science For All, where
they urged Congress to allocate additional funding to computer science education.
They allocated money through the National Science Foundation to do more research and
do more teacher preparation for computer science education.
And then recently, in April of 2016, 26 governors, both Democrats and
Republicans signed a petition to urge Congress to do the same.
Now states and school districts are also creating their own opportunities in
addition to these national initiatives.
So states like New York City have decided they're going to
have big computer science for all initiatives.
And school districts, including our own local one in Champaign Unit 4,
have created different computing experiences both at the elementary,
middle school, and high school level to provide computer science experiences with
the purpose of computer science for all.
So that these are not things that are just provided as enrichment opportunities for
students, and aren't just provided to kids who have the means to be able to
afford after-school program.
One of the first things we need to do is think about misconceptions about computer
science.
And so one of the things that a lot of people think is that computer science is
for geeky guys who sit alone in their basements, and
they do computer programming on their own.
And they also think that you have to be a genius in order to do computer science.
The message that we're sending to both teachers and
to students is that computer science is really for everybody.
And in fact, when you have a diverse group of people working together on programs,
those programs are actually better.
More people buy those programs.
They reach wider audiences.
And so it actually helps to have a very diverse group of people working together.
The other thing to know is that you don't have to be a genius to do computer
programming.
If you can do basic arithmetic and a little bit of algebra,
you can do computer programming.
And so once we get through these misconceptions then we can start
opening the doors to providing that kind of instruction to kids.
Why are we focused on computing?
There are two main arguments.
One is the job argument, which you'll see in the next slide as well.
According to the US Department of Labor Statistics, by the year 2020, which
is actually just around the corner, there are going to be 1 million computing jobs.
And only about 30 of them are going to be able to be filled at the current rate that
we're preparing folks.
But then beyond the jobs argument, we actually have this argument that
says that we're teaching kids real world application of mathematics.
We're teaching kids to persevere through different difficult challenges.
We are teaching them persistence and collaboration through computing.
And so there's a pedagogical reason for doing so.
And there is also an equity reason because we know that kids who don't have access
to computing in the earlier grades are much less likely to walk through those
doors that will allow them the opportunities in the future.
This is a slide from Code.org that shows those statistics in a more graphical
manner.
What you can see here is in that pie chart, which shows all the science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics jobs in the year 2020,
about 60% of those jobs are going to have something to do with computing.
And then the graph below is showing that of those 1 million
unfilled jobs in computing, we're really only preparing a small
percentage of those with people to fill those positions.
