1.
Priming the
Computer
Science Teacher
Pump:
Integrating CS
Education into Schools
of Ed

2.
What is Computer Science?

3.
Preparing Computer Science Teachers

4.
Moving Beyond Preparation

5.
Identifying a Path Forward
Together with 34
institutions of higher
education, the team
convened a two-day
workshop to discuss the
current state of CS
education in schools of
education.

6.
What do
Teachers Need
to Know about
Computer
Science?

7.
What should teachers know about CS to
teach in Computer Science Classes?

8.
Teachers need pedagogical knowledge
that...
● Infuses methods that are shown to be suitable for CS education (i.e. inquiry-
based instruction)
● Highlights common student misconceptions and strategies for addressing
misconceptions
● Illuminates formative and summative assessment methods to capture
student understanding

9.
Teachers need an understanding of the history, policies, structures,
curriculum, and instruction that filters who experiences CS
Education, and pedagogical supports to disrupt these racial and
gender inequities.

10.
Moving from Primarily Professional
Development Model and into Pre-Service
Teacher Education

11.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Schools of education should include content, teaching
methods, and state standards for CS in any preparation
programs for teachers who may have responsibility for those
standards.
1. Faculty designing new courses or programs should partner with
practitioners to make sure coursework aligns with any relevant
offerings in regional schools and to develop possible sites for
student teaching placements
1. Faculty in schools of education should participate in CS teacher
events and read/write for CS education research publications
in order to include current best practices in coursework.

12.
Teacher
Development
Models for
Computer
Science
Education

13.
Preparation aligned to Practice
Need both content and
pedagogy.
Currently focused on
individual courses - but we
need more generalists.
Teacher CS content is
different from CS
professionals.

14.
Preparation aligned to Certification
Certification - 27 + DC Approved Programs - 12

15.
RECOMMENDATIONS
● Faculty of education can connect with members of
the department of CS who are running professional
development or inservice teacher preparation to
identify needs and best practices.
● Faculty preparing courses for future teachers should
review example syllabi or program outlines from
other institutions for common practices.
● Schools of education should make sure teacher
candidates have content preparation aligned with
national and relevant state standards for CS
education.

16.
Computer
Science
Education in
Teacher
Education

17.
Training New Teachers
Source: http://blog.firebrandtalent.com/2014/11/the-new-skills-you-need-for-the-digital-age/
❖ Teacher Professional
Development
❖ Bugs in the System
❖ Roadblocks
➢ CS as computer literacy
➢ Declining Enrollments

18.
Stand Alone
Field Experiences
Classroom
Service Learning
Computer Science Knowledge
Programming (for Educators)
Data Structures
CS- PCK
Methods Course
Supplemental
Licensure
in CS
Yadav, A., Korb, J. T. (2012). Learning to teach computer science: The need for a methods course. Communications of the
Association for Computing Machinery, 55(11), 31-33

19.
Integration
Intro to Ed Tech
Intro to Ed Psych
Core TE courses
Preparing teachers to
thinking computationally
CS/CT in Teacher Ed
Literacy
Science
Mathematics
Methods Courses
Yadav, A., Stephenson, C., & Hong, H. (2017). Computational thinking for teacher education. Communications of the Association
for Computing Machinery, 60 (4), 55-62. DOI:10.1145/2994591

20.
RECOMMENDATIONS
● Schools of education can commit tenure-track faculty
lines and resources in collaboration with departments of
CS to support teaching and research in CS education
● Schools of education can hire tenure-track faculty who
work in computing education research into STEM
education lines and encourage their collaboration with
CS faculty.
● Schools of education can count CS education research
published in conference proceedings at the same level
as journal publications to allow junior faculty to get
promoted and tenured

21.
CS Courses in K-12
Standalone CS
Education in K-12
Integrating CS
Education Into Other
Disciplines

22.
CS STANDALONE COURSES
High Schools:
mostly AP CS
Elementary/
Middle Schools:
few courses
INTERNATIONAL
High Schools: Israel,
Germany, New Zealand,
Scotland and United Kingdom
Elementary/Middle Schools:
South Korea

23.
SUCCESS: AP CS High School
AP Computer
Science
Principles A, a
college-level
semester-long
course taught
in many high
schools in
preparation
for the AP
exam.

24.
Beauty and Joy of Computing
Mobile CS Principles
UTeach CS Principles
Code.org CS Principles
Project Lead the Way*
SUCCESS: AP CS High School COURSES

25.
Exploring Computer Science
Computer Science
Discoveries
Programming, Games, and
Apps Society
SUCCESS: Introductory High School Courses

26.
SUCCESS: Elementary/Middle
School
Scalable Game Design
CS Discoveries
CS Fundamentals
Creative fogged Guide
MakeCodePlay

27.
ISSUES: LACK OF DIVERSITY

28.
ECS Exploring Computer Science

29.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Schools of education should explore offering
graduate coursework, certificate programs,
or even master’s degrees in CS education.
• Secondary teacher education programs need
to develop and provide courses for preparing
teachers
• Teacher education programs should hire CS
education specialists

30.
CS AS INTEGRATED
COURSE

31.
History of CS Integration
PAST K-12 CS education started
with mathematics and CS being
combined for early geometry
learning in the 1980’s (Papert,
1980).
PRESENT The Next Generation
Science Standards (2013) also
include a cross-cutting concept
of computational thinking that is
well suited to integration.

32.
SUCCESS CS Integration in
Schools
Boostrap where students
learn Algebra through
building a video game.
Curriculum bridges the
worlds of programming
and algebra.
The assessment show student improvements in solving
mathematics word problems, even without scaffolding
(Schanzer, Fisler, Krishnamurthi, 2017).

33.
CHALLENGES TO CS
INTEGRATION
STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)
disciplines are often the first to come to mind when
considering the integration of CS education into K-12 subjects.
Successfully integrated CS activities have learning goals and
either explicit instruction or explicit reflection for both
domains to promote learning.
CASE: A student may create a simulation depicting viral
growth in a population, however without instruction to
understand the science behind the simulation or a reflection
that enables the student to connect the behavior on the
screen to the desired science instructional goals, very little
domain learning will occur.

34.
GAPS
Teachers have a general contextual understanding
for topics (mathematics, history, etc.) taught in K-12
and how they might integrate with each other.
In contrast, there is no shared understanding of
computer science in even the most basic principles.
➔ We must provide foundational understanding for
all teachers in CS and computational thinking,

35.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Schools of education should identify examples of
integrated CS education to include in coursework for
education students in other disciplines.
• Schools of education faculty and students should
interact with students and faculty from other
departments on campus.
• Faculty and students from schools of education
should seek out case studies of interventions that did
not produce learning gains in interdisciplinary project
and discuss what may have inhibited the learning.

36.
Discussion

37.
Computer
Science
Education in
Grades K-8

38.
● Schools of education should ensure through
programmatic requirements that K-8 teachers receive
basic literacy instruction in CS as well as foundational CS
education pedagogical instruction.
● Faculty in schools of education should have
opportunities to familiarize themselves with relevant K-
12 CS education standards for integration into core
pedagogical coursework.
● Candidates for ELL or special education licenses or
certificates should include cases or examples with CS
instruction as a part of their training.
RECOMMENDATIONS

39.
Preparing
Educational
Leaders to
Support
Computer
Science
Education

40.
Who are the Educational
Leaders in the Field?
CS Teachers
Principals
Superintendents
Curriculum Specialists
District/State Education Officials

41.
Chart From:
Google Inc. & Gallup Inc. (2016). Trends in the State of Computer Science in U.S. K-12
Schools. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/j291E0
What do School Leaders think about CS?

42.
Why Engage Educational Leaders in CS
Education?
Principals decide course availability and teacher
assignments; evaluate teachers
Superintendents set strategic initiatives for the
district; often selects programs/courses
Deans of Education determine faculty hires, set
goals and priorities, and network with alumni who
are principals, superintendents, and state leaders

43.
Fitting CS in Educational Leadership
Coursework Experiences

44.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Computer science educational leaders should participate in
conferences and gatherings of educational leadership
communities (including superintendents, principals, etc.).
• Students in educational leadership programs could create
dissertations using “problems of practice” related to
efforts to broaden CS education access and opportunity
• Faculty in educational leadership programs might use case
studies for CS education implementation. There are
numerous examples such as Chicago Public Schools, New
York City, and many smaller city or rural schools with CS
education implementation plans.

45.
Creating the
Computer
Science
Education PhD
Pipeline

46.
Finding the CS Ed Faculty
We need faculty who can:
• Create and run pre-service CS teacher
professional development programs.
• Conduct research to answer our fundamental
questions about CS education and evaluate the
effectiveness of what gets developed.
• Prepare CS Ed graduate students, who will
become the next generation of CS Ed faculty.

47.
CS Ed today is mostly in CS
Not surprising: Discipline-based Education Research
usually starts in the discipline.
But it can’t stay just there.
• Not informed by schools and classrooms.
• Doesn’t prepare teachers.
• Doesn’t sustain the system.

48.
What does success look like?
University of Nebraska - Omaha
German model
UPCERG at Uppsala University

49.
Getting from here to there
Recognizing interdisciplinary publication venues,
even if transitional.
Finding ways to hire CS Ed faculty
• CS Ed slots
• STEM Ed slots

50.
Summary and
Thank Yous

51.
What is Next?
Bring the report back to your department and share!
More copies available at computingteacher.org
Connect with CSforALL to stay informed of upcoming
events/announcements regarding CS education.
Consider writing a grant or making a commitment for
the CSforALL Summit to grow or launch a program.

52.
Thank you!

53.
Areas for Discussion
What are our next steps?
What are your concerns that we have not
addressed?
Lubricated by a Happy Hour,
with thanks from MongoDB