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Post by healthy11 on Aug 20, 2015 17:31:22 GMT -5
Yet another example of how schools cling to familiar old approaches in the classroom: www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/08/20/google-gallup-poll-finds-parents-want-computer-science-education-but-administrators-arent-sure/31991889/"Searching for Computer Science: Access and Barriers in U.S. K-12 Education," polled 15,000 people ranging from students to superintendents. Among key and contrasting findings: while 90% of parents see computer science, or CS, as "a good use of school resources" (and 67% say CS should be required learning alongside other core classes), fewer than 8% of administrators believe parent demand is high. They also cite a lack of trained teachers as a top barrier to offering CS courses. Three quarters of principals report no CS programs in their school..." I found the following interesting, too: A 1997 report by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) emphasised the danger produced by teachers who cling to old teaching models, forgetting that they have served them well in the past but that they cannot serve them in the future. It affirms fervently that breaking away completely with the old well-known methods can be risky, but it is what's needed in the present..." www.researchgate.net/publication/28109155_Preparing_Teachers_and_Schools_for_the_21st_Century |
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Post by bros on Aug 20, 2015 21:54:30 GMT -5
My HS had a course where we learned programming, but how to program robots. It wasn't drag-and-drop like lego robots, but robots with actual metal frames that we programmed to complete mazes and things like that.
Pretty sure they got rid of the class after they fired the teacher the day before he got tenure, because they didn't have the money in the budget for that class anymore, and they didn't want to deal with the headache with making a teacher a day away from tenure a part time teacher
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Post by healthy11 on Aug 20, 2015 22:34:11 GMT -5
I thought only college profs get "tenure." In your case, it sounds like not only the teacher, but many students have been negatively impacted by the school's decision. In our area, students who wanted to get experience with programming/technology had to join after-school clubs. Elementary schools participated in firstlegoleague.org/, and the High Schools had www.usfirst.org/ |
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Post by eoffg on Aug 21, 2015 4:41:14 GMT -5
Healthy, here in Australia. The govt plans to make computer coding a compulsory subject. That starts in elementary school, and into high school.
The curriculum for it is already available, and some schools have already begun teaching it.
While we often discuss here, the use of different software to help students with LDs.
Which has to be bought.
This could change quite soon?
Where for example, a 5th grade student with an LD. Might develop their own software programs, to support their learning?
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Post by bros on Aug 21, 2015 11:16:43 GMT -5
I thought only college profs get "tenure." In your case, it sounds like not only the teacher, but many students have been negatively impacted by the school's decision. In our area, students who wanted to get experience with programming/technology had to join after-school clubs. Elementary schools participated in firstlegoleague.org/, and the High Schools had www.usfirst.org/Teachers in states, except where they have eliminated tenure, get tenure. In NJ, it used to be on the first day of your fourth year teaching (3 years & 1 day), now it is on the first day of your fifth year teaching (4 years & 1 day) No schools around here had any actually interesting clubs. Only like one non-sport or band club that actually competed. |
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Post by healthy11 on Aug 21, 2015 14:30:08 GMT -5
eoffg, when my son was attending a private elementary school, they brought in speakers from around the globe, to give presentations to parents about teaching approaches in various countries. I remember thinking that Australia seemed to be at the forefront of Gifted and Talented Education, www.austega.com/gifted/ . Based on what you've just shared, about making computer coding a requirement, it seems like Australia is at the forefront of technological education, too. bros, I just saw a list of "Top 10 high schools in the U.S." and more than half were located in NJ...Are they all private schools? www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2015 |
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Post by bros on Aug 21, 2015 16:43:50 GMT -5
eoffg, when my son was attending a private elementary school, they brought in speakers from around the globe, to give presentations to parents about teaching approaches in various countries. I remember thinking that Australia seemed to be at the forefront of Gifted and Talented Education, www.austega.com/gifted/ . Based on what you've just shared, about making computer coding a requirement, it seems like Australia is at the forefront of technological education, too. bros, I just saw a list of "Top 10 high schools in the U.S." and more than half were located in NJ...Are they all private schools? www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2015All of them are actually magnet schools. Public, but most require a test for entry. Most of them have a low percentage of students on IEPs, but they usually have around 5%, on average. High Tech High is an amazing school, on the grounds of the best community college in the state. Many of the students take advantage of dual enrollment in their senior year of HS if they have not already been offered a full rid to an institution (Which is rare there, a lot of their graduates tend to go to high ranking tech schools & MIT on full ride scholarships) |
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Post by healthy11 on Aug 21, 2015 16:46:39 GMT -5
Something tells me that the kids attending those schools have lots of interesting classes, clubs, and other after-school activities...too bad yours didn't.
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Post by bros on Aug 21, 2015 23:13:41 GMT -5
Something tells me that the kids attending those schools have lots of interesting classes, clubs, and other after-school activities...too bad yours didn't. Their course offerings are a bit sparse compared to most high schools, but I believe it excels in other areas, such as quality of the courses (I think 60% are taught by PhDs, 30% by people with masters degrees, 10% with bachelors). www.hths.mcvsd.org/courses/They also require a pseudo-internship before a student can graduate and they require students to learn research skills - something I didn't touch on until my second year of college. |
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Post by healthy11 on Aug 22, 2015 20:55:43 GMT -5
I just found the following, which, towards the end of the article, says a few states have passed policies that allow computer science to count as mathematics or science credits. It also said just under half of principals surveyed—49 percent—said that they expect computer science education offerings to increase over the next three years. news.yahoo.com/heres-why-next-mark-zuckerberg-probably-wont-coming-192152693.html |
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Post by healthy11 on Aug 29, 2015 9:18:43 GMT -5
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Post by healthy11 on Feb 16, 2016 10:02:20 GMT -5
www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/02/15/465467155/should-computer-education-cover-more-than-just-codingThe above article gives another perspective (which I personally agree with) that says in addition to teaching computer coding, there should be opportunities to demonstrate what the coding can actually do, in applications and equipment/gadgets. Gene Chorba, a student at Georgia State University, works full-time for a Georgia-based startup. "In the traditional collegiate learning experience," he says, "you sit in a classroom, you're given a book you spend hundreds of dollars on, and most of the information you learn is never used." He says his company has stopped recruiting at career fairs. Instead Chorba does recruiting at hackathons, where students code applications and gadgets they can show prospective employers.
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