Computational thinking outreach: reaching across the K-12 curriculum

Abstract

Recruiting a precollege audience into computing disciplines can be challenging. One approach is to engage those that have a strong influence with the precollege students, K-12 teachers [16]. To engage these teachers, we held a Google-sponsored Computer Science for High School (CS4HS) workshop at our small university. The workshop, scheduled over a two day period, included presentations on the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) K-12 computer science curriculum standards, recruiting woman into computing disciplines, and careers in technology. Additionally, there were hands-on sessions with Scratch programming, FIRST robotics, computer hardware, programming in Excel, and CS Unplugged. A unique aspect of this workshop was that high school, middle school, and elementary school teachers, both in and out of technology-related disciplines, were invited to attend. Another unique aspect of our workshop was the inclusion of several sessions with activities for participants to create action plans for incorporating computational thinking components into the curriculum at their respective schools. This included a presentation from a former school superintendent on how to work with school districts in considering computer science as a component in the curriculum and several small-group working sessions to develop the action plans. Discussions with the attendees and subsequent surveys revealed some surprising information about perceptions that K-12 teachers had surrounding computer science and technology. This paper describes our experience with the workshop.