ACM Urges Obama To Include CS In K-12 Core

jmcbain writes "The ACM issued a set of recommendations supporting Barack Obama's stated goal of making science and mathematics education a national priority at the K-12 level. The ACM is urging the new administration to include Computer Science as an integral part of the nation's education system. 'The new Administration can play an important role in strengthening middle school education, where action can really make a difference, to introduce these students to computer science,' said ACM CEO John White." Is CS such a basic subject, at the level of science or math, that it makes sense to (try to) teach its principles to every elementary school child?

Comments

Re:CS will end up = programming

[KanshuShintai]

Teaching computer science in middle school and high school is probably no more appropriate than teaching mechanical engineering at those levels. What schools really need to be teaching are maths outside of the calculus track--logic, as you said, along with combinatorics, graph theory, geometry, set theory, and a number of other things that are important as foundations to the sciences (including computer science) and engineering disciplines in general. Computer science topics could serve as examples of applications of those mathematical foundations, just as physics is used as an example in calculus courses.

Re:Dear ACM, STOP.

[cdw38]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for tossing some common sense on this. The Department of Education is not only unconstitutional (and thus, illegal), it DOESN'T WORK. Schools should be accountable to local communities and parents, NOT federal government bureaucrats. Even better than state governments, the ACM should be petitioning city and county Boards of Education to possibly include a greater emphasis on computer science in K-12 education.

Re:Doesn't matter if it starts out bad

[lysergic.acid]

i think it's definitely time for the public education system to update its K-12 curriculum. personally i'd also add philosophy/logic/ethics to middle school and high school curricula, but that's a discussion for another day.

regarding CS being added to math and science education, i think that's a pretty good approach. when i was a student (jr. high and high school) all of our math text books had little extra credit assignments at the end of each chapter that outlined how to implement the newly taught concepts in a BASIC program. usually it just gave you the source code outright and recommended that students try it out themselves. however, i don't think any of my math teachers knew how to program, so we never even looked at those code examples.

i think CS is one way to enrich existing curricula in addition to teach new and useful computer skills to students. students may find parametric equations boring because they can't see any immediate applications, but if students are given the task of using these equations in a computer program, then they might start seeing more practical uses of the material.

and while i think instructors should be qualified and well-trained, i would agree that sometimes having the instructor learn alongside students can benefit both the teacher and the student. i've always found tutoring others to be a great way of learning new material and making sure you have a solid grasp of the subject. so even if teachers aren't familiar with computer science right now, integrating CS into math and science classes will definitely force those teachers to become familiar with CS.

my biggest fear is that educators will underestimate students and will try to dilute the material. i've always found that programming becomes more interesting/fun as you move on to more advanced topics. likewise, the easiest programming classes are also the dullest. and, quite frankly, most high school students are probably more tech-savvy than their teachers. so if classes are taught at too slow a pace for students (like still having students use training-wheel languages like Logo or BASIC in high school) then you run the risk of their losing interest in CS.

in that respect, i think it's best to also have dedicated Computer Science classes on the side that are taught by knowledgeable instructors who have a minor in CS at the very least. i would love to see high school students tackling assignments or group projects like image processing, data encryption, socket programming, simple AI, etc. it'd certainly be funner for the kids than 12 years of "Hello World!" and ASCII graphics.

Re:Yes! Absolutely not!

[FrankieBaby1986]

1-2 hours worth of work every night, every test is "closed book", every quiz is unannounced, and there's no such thing as extra credit. You should hear the crying of unfairness and cruelty. (The funny thing is for the 4 years I've been at my school, my AP class has had the highest passing rate of all AP courses taught at our school.)

Now this is why you are precisely the kind of teacher I dislike the most. The one who thinks their class is the only one that matters.

Do you honestly think that after being in school from 8am to 3pm (7 hours) students should be expected to study an additional 6-12 hours? (1-2 hours per subject). This is ridiculous, as no person, let alone child has that kind of attention span or time (12-19 hours).

It is my humble opinion that the majority of 'textbook' learning should be done at school, and afterwards, the students need time to learn to play, interact, and learn responsibilities besides that of doing their homework.

I have also felt that many students would benefit from having more time focused on them, and so small group learning should be the norm, not 25-40 students in a classroom for a lecture. It is not the amount of time spent learning or the hours of homework spent, but the quality and efficiency that matters. We need to increase the number of teachers per student-perhaps 1 student per 6 kids. This would have to be accomplished likely by trained volunteers or less-qualified Teacher Assistants and one teacher.

However, I do strongly agree that there has been a softening in standards across the board, and that students expect to be coddled more. But I do think that the expectations on students are higher. There is simply much more to have to learn and know on a daily basis.

It is no longer the three R's (readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmatic) Now we have Social Studies, Health, Computer Science, Cooking, English, Spanish, Gym class, and on top of that students are expected to perform 50 hours of community service a year and after school activities and boy/girlscouts and have a part-time job when they reach 15 or 16.

What ever happened to bein' a kid?
Education is going to need to be revamped in a big way.