Free Books - OReilly Media

Our local CSTA chapter recently signed up for Oreilly's User Community. If you are a member of a local CSTA chapter (and you should be - it's free people) this is a service that might be helpful for your chapter.

From their website: If you run a user group, Meetup, professional association, or other technology group, O'Reilly Communities can provide you with:

• Review copies of O'Reilly, Microsoft Press, Pragmatic, No Starch, and SitePoint products
• Donations of books and other promo items

Hope this helps!

Recruiting for Computer Science - the AP Potential Report

For many high schools it is recruiting season. If you school has an AP program there is a little kown report, called the AP Readiness Potential, that can help you in attracting kids to your classes. This is an especially helpful way of identifying girls and other groups that may not already be taking your Computer Science classes.

Basically this report takes students' PSAT scores and predicts the AP tests they are statistically likely to score well on. It is based on a past correlation between past PSATs and AP exams.

While we do not yet have this for APCS Principles, since no AP tests have been given yet, we do have it for the current APCS class.

A new feature is teachers can now log in to see the reports. To access the report you will need an access code. You can get this code from the person in your building that coordinates the AP exams. I find that person often doesn't know about the report, or have any idea of how to find the code.

You can call to get your school's code. The number is 866-630-9305. You just have to identify yourself and your school.

The login for the site is here. You'll need an account for AP Central. Once you pull the report the site even has sample letters to send home to parents. I have found letters directly to parents to be a powerful way to attract kids to computer science.

Long term I am very curious to see how this test correlates for the new APCS Principles class. Since much of the assessment for this course will be written it will be interesting to see if a correlation with the writing section of the PSAT.

The Data Cake

Interesting read for the APCS Principles course on open data and the impact on research. The article is especially interesting in light of the Data Portfolio Task that asks students to find a publicly available data set as a part of their exploration.

And I know that it is now the Investigate Performance Task, not the Data PT, but to be honest my brain is full these days and cannot take all these name changes.

There is also this: "we must redress the dominance of knowledge generated in the global North". Very interesting to think of covering the Data and Global Impacts together in this way. This would make a great class discussion and journal topic.

I may also use the graphic as a writing prompt. One of the goals I have for the students is to articulate the difference between data and information.

Posters for Computer Science - Careers that use Computer Science

These posters are from the Otronicon Science Center in Orlando, FL. Forget Harry Potter World, we are definitely putting that on the list for our next Florida trip. I am sure this kids won't mind.

Anyhoo, I am fascinated that a science museum has done such a thorough job of including computational thinking and computer science topics in their materials.

Anyway, the posters are free to print and use. They include writing, architecture, linguistics - some fields we don't traditionally associate with computer science.

Some of the other pages have some good resources too. The Medical Sim City page (tagged: See how simulation technology is being used to create better doctors, nurses and other medical professionals) looks like it has some interesting things to help cover the modeling and simulation info in the APCS Principles course, for example.

Crafting Computer Science Diversity.

I have been thinking a lot lately about diversity in computer science.

The Beacon Hill Dollhouse

My world of technology started on just about  the smallest possible scale - in my dollhouse. Santa brought the dollhouse when I was 7. An Army brat, I already was well accustomed finding creative ways to entertain myself. In the miniature rooms and halls of that house, I learned more about tinkering and problem solving than from any classroom or textbook.

Being an Army Brat also meant moving every 18 months. I was allowed one one box of toys. Each new move meant brutal decisions about what made the cut. My constant choice through all the years was my dollhouse.

I built everything for the house from scratch, I was carpenter, furniture maker and electrician. By the time I was in the 5th grade, I had it fully electrified with a brass chandelier and a working ceiling fan.

Those early experiences -- of learning by exploring and by literally hard wiring my imagination -- now informs how I teach my students to program. I encourage them to connect the abstract code to the underlying electronics through hands on activities. My hope is to get them just as excited about making through code.

Untangling the CS Principles Learning Objectives

Struggling with the CS Principles Learning Objectives? Try them as Flashcards: CS Principles flashcards - Learning Objectives

One of the thing I have found most challenging in working with the APCS Principles Topic list over the last 3 years is the Learning Objectives themselves. None of them are all that hard in of themselves, but trying to make sure I am covering everything can sometimes be overwhelming. Unlike the existing APCS course, the topic list does not really suggest any particular sequence, so trying to make sure everything has been covered at AP depth can be a challenge.

Here are the LO's in Flashcard format if you would like to print them out. This has been really helpful for me as I lesson plan to make sure everything is in there. Sometimes it is fun to draw a few cards randomly and try to come up with an activity to cover them. this has helped with some out of the box combinations of topics.

**Note - these are the learning objectives as of Dec 2013. If you are reading this more than 6 months from now you should make sure they still align with the LO's. The course is still in pilot phase and the LO's are subject to adjustment as Collegeboard gets ready for the launch of the new course in 2016-17.

Collegeboard's AP CS Principles site

So, What is code?

Great video from PBS Off Book, a series that explores art in the digital world

Is Code the Most Important Language in the World?


 

It does a great job of quickly describing what code is and then delving into some of the current issues in computer science. I am using it this week as a part of CS Education Week as a journal prompt for my students.

"It is hard to say what problems would be solved with a more diverse workforce."

- Adda Birnir, Co-Founder SkillCrush

 This is the driving force behind a lot of my own work lately. This moves is beyond just looking at diversity of the workplace, but really at how we solve problems as a society.

Inevitably the problems we solve are going to reflect the views and experiences of those solving them. At a deeper level though, the people with the ability to solve these problems through coding have the power to ultimately decide what problems get solutions.

Computer Science is predominantly white and Asian males. In the 2010 census this group made up roughly 38% of the overall population in the United States. That means that 62% of the population is outside of this circle of influence. In essence their problems are outside the view of the people solving humanities problems.

I highly recommend the series in general. The videos are very engaging, short, and show a great diversity of people working with technology.

Some other topics they cover:

• Future of Wearable Technology
• Art of Data Visualization
• Art of Creative Coding

And in case you are using writing in your cs classes here's a full list of the Journal prompts I use in CS Principles.