New Trends in Computing for Schools

Thought of the day " Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time." ~Chinese Proverb - Grades are for Onions, beef_,and other Produce; Not Children... ~Anonymous Quiz Trivia 1.First ,what computer science concepts should be taught when,and how? 2.What is that progression in computer science? 3.Why so few people study computer science, even when there are so many high-paying ,high-prestige developers jobs out there? Further Reading 1.600 Free Online Programming & Computer Science Courses You Can Start in January, 2018. 2.Computer Science vs Self-Taught vs Coding Bootcamp (ft.Quincy Larson) 3.Computational Thinking 10 years later. 4.Percentage of New STEM Jobs by Area through 2018. Computational Thinking - Computational Thinking mindset #CTmindset to remind us how people think ,computers think and technology works.If we can combine the three maybe there is some hope. -It represents a universally application attitude and skill set everyone, not just computer scientist,would be eager to learn and use -Computational thinking is a grand vision to guide computer science educators, researchers, and practitioners as we act to change society's image of the field. -Computational thinking will have become ingrained in everyone's lives when words like algorithm and pre condition are part of everyone's vocabulary. -This kind of thinking will be part of the skill set of not only scientists but of everyone else. ....And today,with the advent of massive amounts of data, researchers in all disciplines -including the arts, humanities and social sciences -are discovering new knowledge using , computational methods and tools . Computing Technology in The Classroom -We need to understand how best to use computing technology in the classroom . " Throwing computers in the classroom is not the most efficient way to teach computer science concepts" -For example ,when is it best to teach recursion ? Children learn to solve the Towers of Hanoi puzzle and in history class we teach divide and conquer as a strategy for winning battles. -But is the general concept taught in high school ? We teach " long division" to 9-year-olds in 4th grade ,but we never utter the word "algorithm"? And yet the way it is taught, " long division" is just an algorithm too soon for a 4th grader? Mathematics -Consider an analogy to mathematics. We teach numbers to 5-year-old , algebra to 12-year-olds and calculus to 18-year-old .We have somehow figured out the progression of concepts to teach in mathematics, where learning one new concept builds an understanding the previous concept and where the progression reflects the progression of mathematical sophistication of a child as he or she matures. Computer Science & MOOCs -Six years ago, universities like MIT and Stanford first opened up free online courses to the public. Today, more than 700 schools around the world have created thousands of free online courses. - Colleges and universitiesworldwide have witnessed a transformational at the undergraduate level Computer science courses are now offered to students who are not majoring in computer science .These courses are not computer programming courses, but offer opportunity for the computer science community to teach future generations how computer scientists think hence: " computational thinking" ~ Jeannette Wing (wing@cs.cmu.edu)..Vice President Microsoft Research, President Professor of Computer Science in and head of Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellow University. Why so few people study computer science, even when there are so many high-paying ,high-prestige developers jobs out there? 1. Computer science is hard.But it isn't necessary harder than other science and engineering fields ,many of which are surging in popularity. 2. You don't need a CS degree to be a developer. But it certainly helps you get your foot in the door at big tech companies - more so than other majors. 3. People aren't so market-driven when they're considering majors.But there's evidence that people increasingly go into fields that are growing, like health care.So this also doesn't fully explain why more people aren't majoring in CS NB: -Anyway ,if you're currently in university,or planning to start soon,I strongly recommended majoring in computer science - Programming really is where most of the new jobs are,and this trend will accelerate as more and more more work is done by machines. Percentage of New STEM Jobs by Area through 2018 Traditional 29% 1.Physical Sciences 7% 2.Traditional engineering 16% 3.Mathematics 2% 4.Life Sciences 4% =29% Computing 71% 1.Computer support 7% 2.Database Admin 2% 3.System Analysts 10% 4.Software engineering 27% 6.Computer networking 21% 7.CS/IS Research 1% 8.Other computing 3% =71% Total =100% Tags: computing,computerscience, computationalthinking,coding,bootcamp,technology,classroom,mathematics,MOOCs