Collaboration between school districts and community organizations is the key to expanding the pool of educators to teach computer science, according to an EdSource article.
Educators should prioritize computer science classes in course offerings and parents can help persuade children to take computer science classes and push administrators to offer the classes, according to the article. Here are 7 keys to making this happen:
Proper teacher preparation is the first step in computer science education, says Julie Flapan, co-director for Computer Science for California (CSforCA). Send teachers to professional development to learn the curriculum and pedagogy and feel supported in teaching computer science, she says.
Teacher collaboration is key schools where there may only be one educator trying to integrate computer science, says Tracey Allen, who has worked with rural districts across Northern California.
“They might be the only science teacher that’s trying to integrate computer science, or they’re the only math teacher on site,” Allen says. “It’s kind of hard to have a robust conversation with yourself if you’re the only one in that content area.”
Recruiting teachers requires developing relationships, says Karen Mix, co-director for a federal l grant under California’s Small School Districts’ Association.
“I pop into schools and meet teachers,” she says. “Answer questions that they may have, show them the benefits and the values of computer science and how they can use it and encourage them to go to the training. One of our teachers — I had to pop into their school and talk to him and their principal maybe four or five times before we got them on board.”
Connecting with local community partners is essential. In one California high school, students had no access to any computer science courses. Nonprofits and community organizations participated in training opportunities to better collaborate in developing computer science. One nonprofit began leading course implementation and recruited staff to support the initiative.
“Partnerships where you actually bring in subject matter experts like ourselves into classrooms can augment and help,” says Damon Thomas, co-founder of Quiq Labs, a tech education company that teaches students science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) through enrichment programs.
Be creative with your master schedule. Educators must balance the availability of courses required to graduate with non-mandatory but necessary classes that can prepare students for life after high school. How does this apply to computer science? A kindergarten teacher on a half-day schedule teaches computer science as an afternoon elective in other elementary grades in a district in Northern California. Another district created a middle school coding class in the 40 minutes between 2:40 p.m. (when classes end) and 3:30 p.m. (when buses arrive).
Adding a computer science class can be a long-term strategy. “You have to build up the interest, build up the pressure, in grades K-8 so that by the time the kids get to high school, there’s a demand for the course, and then the principal can justify providing the assignment in the master schedule to offer a course,” says Kathy Hamilton with California’s Small School Districts’ Association.
Administrators should create opportunities for teachers to integrate, or merge computer science into another subject area, to expose students to computer science in middle and elementary grades, says one professional development educator.
Parents can help. “Parents want computer science when they hear what we talk to them about,” says one educator, and they can advocate for computer science to be a priority in their school district.
EdSource
